Can Clinton Be the Big Cheese in Wisconsin?

Feb. 17, 2008 — -- Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had hoped to make the most of their weekend in wintry Wisconsin, where there will be a primary vote Tuesday. But, Mother Nature called a cease-fire to their battle, with a heavy snowstorm blanketing the state and icy roads grinding the campaign machine to a halt.

Clinton salvaged what she could of the campaign day, stopping for a plate of corned beef hash at Miss Katie's diner in Milwaukee. She also visited an Hispanic market where she bought hot peppers, her secret weapon, she said, for fighting colds.

Saturday night, both she and Obama appeared at a Democratic party fundraiser in Milwaukee, where they traded barbs.

"We face real challenges. Real threats. We have to be ready to summon the experience, the wisdom and the determination to solve our problems. It will take more than just speeches to fulfill our dreams. It will take a lot of hard work," said Clinton.

"Don't tell me words don't matter!" said Obama. "'I have a dream' — just words? 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal' — just words? 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' — just words? Just speeches?"

He added, "It's true that speeches don't solve all problems, but what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again then it doesn't matter how many policies and plans we have."

Each candidate is in it for the long haul. For both, the last month of furious campaigning has had its ups and downs. Clinton did well on Super Tuesday. Obama swept the Potomac primaries last week. Each continues to get in a few good shots at each another.

On Sunday, while in Wisconsin, Obama said, "[Clinton] held up some boxing gloves the other day, showing what a fighter she is. You know what I've found? If you know who you are, and what you believe in, you don't have to go around talking how tough you are."

Said Clinton: "I'm prepared to go the distance."

Looking for a way to leapfrog over her opponent, Clinton, who shuffled her campaign staff this weekend, raised eyebrows Sunday by announcing that she'll be leaving Wisconsin Monday morning, a full 24 hours before the state primary.

Instead, she'll use the day to ramp up for the four primaries scheduled for March 4 — Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont and, most importantly, Texas. She's expected to fare well in those contests.

"I feel really good about the breadth and depth of my support across Texas," she said to "GMA Weekend's" Kate Snow during a campaign stop there last week.

Clinton's Texas roots are strong — her working first trip to the Lone Star State was in 1972 when, as a budding young politico, she campaigned for Eugene McCarthy, the Democratic presidential nominee that year.

"It was my first political job," she said. "I was young and I was all gung-ho about what we needed to do and I was shocked that the American people voted again for President Nixon.

"I couldn't believe it," Clinton said. "And then we saw all of the problems that came to light [with Nixon] … but at the end of the day you've got to trust voters. I think if they ask themselves who they believe would be the best president, I feel good about the answers."

As for the Texas terrain, "a lot is the same," she told Snow of her time spent registering voters, particularly Hispanic voters, who are among her most ardent supporters.

"I have such deep roots [here] and this is not something that is easily developed," she said. "You have to work on it. It's a part of who I am, part of how I've lived. And it's part of the reason I have so many people working for me across Texas."

As for the race as a whole, she said, "to me, what matters are voters and delegates. At the end of the day, it's between two people — our records, the comparisons and the contrasts. I think there's a big difference between, you know, talk and action, between promises and solutions."

Asked about what she wishes she knew back in 1972 that she knows now, Clinton said with a laugh, "We don't have enough time. This would take a 24-hour special."