Candidates talk change on the campaign trail - CNN.com

Candidates talk change on the campaign trail - CNN.com: "Candidates talk change on the campaign trail" PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (CNN) -- A narrowed field of White House hopefuls is fighting to show New Hampshire who can be the agent of change. Candidates from both sides of the aisle are jumping on the campaign trail's latest buzzword, one day before the state holds its first-in-the-nation primary. Democratic contender Barack Obama, who has opened up a 9-point lead over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, told supporters the theme of his campaign has remained constant. "We talked about change when we were up; we talked about change where we were down," the Illinois senator said at a rally in Claremont, New Hampshire, on Monday. "This change thing must be catching on." Obama, who won last week's Iowa caucuses, led Clinton 39 percent to 30 percent in a CNN/WMUR poll conducted Saturday and Sunday, a sharp difference from a poll out Saturday that showed the Democratic front-runners tied at 33 percent. The CNN/WMUR poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, surveyed 599 Democrats and 492 Republicans likely to vote in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. It had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Clinton holds a comfortable advantage in the area of experience, but 61 percent of likely Democratic voters in New Hampshire say what matters most is the ability to bring about change, according to the survey. Watch what's at stake in New Hampshire » In the aftermath of a third-place finish in Iowa, Clinton's camp is sending thousands of e-mails to supporters saying her campaign is about action. Clinton has been focusing on her record while trying to downplay Obama's experience. "I think it's time for people to say, 'Wait a minute. Let's get real here.' There is a big difference between talking and acting," Clinton told CNN on Sunday. While campaigning Monday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton became visibly emotional after a friendly question from a voter. Watch Clinton become emotional on the campaign trail » At the close of a Portsmouth campaign stop, Marianne Pernold-Young, 64, asked Clinton: "How do you do it? How do you keep up... and who does your hair?" Clinton began noting that she had help with her hair on "special days," and that she drew criticism on the days she did not. "You know, I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don't want to see us fall backwards," she said, her voice breaking a bit. The audience applauded. "This is very personal for me, it's not just political, it's [that] I see what's happening, we have to reverse it," she said emotionally, adding that some "just put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, a distant third, has been trying to differentiate himself from the front-runners by pushing his plan for the middle class. He says while Obama promises change, he would be more effective at taking on special interests in Washington. Watch Edwards talk about his plans to create jobs » "You can't just nice these people to death and bring them to the table. You have to actually be willing to battle them and fight them," he said Sunday in New Hampshire. "That is the difference between us." Edwards is on a 36-hour, 15-stop tour. He told an audience in Nashua that he's showing the determination as a candidate that he would have as president. Gov. Bill Richardson, polling fourth in the Granite State and harping on the same theme, has set his sights on the undecided voters.