Clinton: 'I take a back seat to no one' on liberal record Hillary never mentioned Bernie Sanders by name, but the subtext was unmistakeable.

HANOVER, N.H. — Hillary Clinton arrived in this liberal New England enclave with a message for anyone thinking about voting for Sen. Bernie Sanders of next-door Vermont: “I take a backseat to no one when you look at my record in standing up and fighting for progressive values.”

Sanders, according to the latest New Hampshire polls, is trailing Clinton by just 8 points. And at the first stop of her two-day swing through the early-voting state, Clinton highlighted contrasts with her main Democratic rival without mentioning him by name.


“We have to take on the gun lobby one more time,” said Clinton, speaking without notes or a teleprompter in front of a crowd of about 850 Dartmouth College students and native Granite Staters. “The majority of gun owners support universal background checks, and we have to work very hard to muster the public opinion to convince Congress that’s what they should vote for.”

She said it was the “height of irresponsibility not to talk about it.” Sanders, who represents a pro-gun constituency, has voted against the Brady Bill, which required federal background checks for gun purchasers, as well as other major bills supported by gun-control advocates.

She also signaled that she would have no problem defending President Barack Obama’s domestic agenda.

“If the country elects a Republican president, then they will repeal the Affordable Care Act,” she warned. “Let’s elect a Democratic president who is committed to quality affordable health care.”

She praised Obama’s moves to help the country recover from the economic crisis and said Republicans who say the recovery is too slow “just don’t know the theory of original sin,” blaming “the kind of poor management and bad economic policies that put us into the ditch in the first place.”

Clinton’s cookout — hamburgers and apple pie, served on a sun-dappled green on the Dartmouth campus — attracted a crowd with more questions than passion for the Democratic front-runner. A few people in the crowd wore T-shirts supporting Sanders and waved his campaign banners.

“I’m probably leaning more toward Bernie,” admitted Roland Downey, 18, who attended the rally with his father, Glenn King, a nurse. “I like that he’s being more modern,” said Downey of the 73-year-old candidate. “I don’t know enough about Hillary.” King said he was also still undecided.

Dee Roberts, who works in human resources at Dartmouth College, said she came out to see Clinton but that she likes what she’s heard from Sanders. “We’re pretty liberal here,” she said. “He’s very straightforward and doesn’t take PAC money.” She said she was hoping to hear more specifics from Clinton on her economic policy.

That didn’t happen Friday — Clinton said she plans to begin laying out “specific policies” on the economy starting in about 10 days.

Instead, she reiterated some of the issues she has been focused on so far: expanding voting rights, ending an era of mass incarceration, boosting the importance of early childhood education and treatment for those with mental health and substance abuse problems.

She also weighed in on the Iran nuclear talks taking place in Vienna this weekend, vowing to protect Israel if a deal is reached.

“I so hope we are able to get a deal next week that puts the lid on Iran’s nuclear weapons program,” she said. “Even if we do get such a deal, we will still have major problems from Iran. They are the world’s chief sponsor of terrorism. They use proxies like Hezbollah to sow discord and create insurgencies to destabilize governments. They are taking more and more control of a number of nations in the region, and they pose an existential threat to Israel.”

“We still are going to have to turn our attention to working with our partners to try to rein in and prevent this continuing Iranian aggressiveness,” she said.

Clinton’s team has been lowering expectations in New Hampshire. And the local advantage for a candidate like Sanders has, historically, been a real factor: then-Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy won the primary here in 1960, and former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis won it in 1988. New Hampshire made Bill Clinton “the comeback kid,” but he didn’t even win it — he finished second in New Hampshire in 1992, behind former Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas. Then-Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry won the Granite State in 2004. In 2012, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary.

“It is easy for Sen. Sanders to travel here,” said Terry Shumaker, a New Hampshire attorney who co-chaired both of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns. He said he is committed to a real fight in the Granite State. “I can’t even remember canvassing in late June for a primary eight months away, but we were doing it last Saturday, and Hillary is in New Hampshire today and tomorrow,” he said.

Clinton supporters also said support for Sanders should not be interpreted as anti-Clinton sentiment — and that polling shows many of his supporters list Clinton as their second choice. “From talking to some,” said Shumaker, “I think that a lot of these folks in the end will vote for her.”