Bernie Sanders, with the reputation for being less controlled than Clinton, operated with military precision Monday and didn’t deviate from the message he’s been pushing since April, right down to the same self-deprecating jokes about his hair.

Hillary Clinton, often accused of being isolated and in a bubble, was freer giving interviews and interacting more directly with critics on Monday. She debuted a more forward-looking campaign message, took on a heckler, and mopped up rumors of a campaign shake-up.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — In the final hours before Tuesday’s primary, the two Democratic rivals seemed to reverse roles as they made their final pitches to New Hampshire voters.


When voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, they face a choice between an outsider who has long been dismissed as a gadfly and a woman who has navigated the corridors of global power. And at the moment, the momentum in the Granite State favors the outsider.

“I think we’re going to do just fine tomorrow,” Sanders said at an afternoon rally in Manchester where he exhibited confidence befitting his place at the top of the polls.

Clinton sounded a little more hesitant at her event, thanking supporters and then addressing undecided voters. “To all of those who are still shopping, I hope I can close the deal,” she said to a standing-room-only crowd at Manchester Community College.

The former secretary of state’s operation spent some of the crucial final hours addressing a report published by Politico that her campaign is on the verge of an overhaul.

“We’re going to take stock, but it’s going to be the campaign that I’ve got,” Clinton said to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in response to the report.

Later, her campaign manager, John Podesta, posted more definitive remarks on Twitter. “There is zero truth to what you may be reading. It’s wrong. Hillary stands behind her team, period.”


Clinton barely pulled out a win in Iowa, finishing a quarter of a percentage point ahead of Sanders in what the Democratic party called the closest Iowa caucus result in history.

She faces even more difficult odds in New Hampshire, where some polls show Sanders ahead by double digits. Already Clinton has looked beyond the state, taking a 1,400-mile round-trip detour to Flint, Mich., on Sunday where she spoke from the pulpit of an African-American church about the local public health emergency caused by lead in the city’s drinking water.

Family, celebs stump for Clinton Share Email to a Friend Embed Family, celebs stump for Clinton

On Monday, she addressed hundreds of New Hampshire voters with a new, more optimistic message. She asked the throngs of people who had waited in the morning snow “to imagine” the country as they want it to be. Her closing pitch: She was the person to turn those hopes into reality.

Sanders, in contrast, stuck to his stump speech Monday.

“Tomorrow, the eyes of the country, and a lot of the world, will be right here on New Hampshire,” he said at a morning event atDaniel Webster College in Nashua. “What people will be asking is not just who wins, but whether the people of New Hampshire are prepared to lead this country in a political revolution, whether the people of New Hampshire are prepared to stand up to the billionaire class.”

Bernie Sanders continued his campaign at a rally in Manchester on Monday, the day before New Hampshire residents vote in the presidential primaries. Share Email to a Friend Embed Bernie Sanders continued his campaign at a rally in Manchester on Monday, the day before New Hampshire residents vote in the presidential primaries.

Later in the day, he delivered the speech again in Manchester. The address was punctuated with bursts of audience participation. “They stole the country!” yelled one man when Sanders talked about Wall Street sins. At a different point an audience member yelled “That’s wrong!” as Sanders talked about the high prices of prescription drugs.


Clinton, too, heard shouts from the audience, but not all were supporting her message.

“You take their money! You take their money!” yelled a man from Connecticut when Clinton mentioned her plan to regulate Wall Street banks.

Clinton soldiered on, without acknowledging the man at first.

“And like President Obama, yes, I have donations. There’s no doubt about that.”

“Why?” the man called out.

“Well, you know, ask yourself. President Obama had a lot of donations. Did that stop him from signing Dodd-Frank? ” Clinton said, referring to the Wall Street reform and consumer protection legislation.

Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, spent time trying to regain balance and hit a note of remorse Monday, a day after unleashing harsh criticism of Sanders, saying he wished he could be more detached from the race.

“The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I was just a former president and just for a few months not the spouse of the next one,” he said in a raspy voice. “You know, I have to be careful what I say.”

On Sunday he had accused some of Sanders’ fervent supporters — known dismissively among Clinton supporters as ‘Bernie bros’ — of “sexist” behavior when they launch online attacks against Clinton backers.

He told a story of a female Clinton supporter who posted supportive messages online and was, he said: “subject to vicious trolling and attacks that are literally too profane — often not to mention sexist — to repeat.”


Still, on Monday, the former president drew a contrast between the young people who support his wife and those who are backing Sanders.

“They’re just as mad as the ones who aren’t,” Clinton said. “It’s just that they know they have to translate their anger into answers and their resentment into results.”

Sanders’ campaign has collected a ragtag following of liberal activist groups and artists that are drafting off his popularity.

In Manchester on Monday, an artist from Brooklyn who was not part of the Sanders campaign sold long-sleeved T-shirts with the senator’s likeness on them for $50. (Proceeds benefited the artist.)

Organizers with Stamp Stampede — a group that pushes people to stamp messages related to campaign finance reform on US currency — set up shop outside Sanders’ rally in the snow and took donations.

“We're definitely riding on his coattails,” said Keith Yergeau, an organizer with the group.

Tracy Jan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Annie Linskey can be reached at annie.linskey@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @annielinskey.