When you’re reaching out to voters in 22 states in just more than a week, it’s not surprising that the speech gets streamlined to its very essence: policy highlights, a bit of biography, and a jab or two at your remaining rival.“The field has narrowed. It’s myself and Sen (Hillary Rodham) Clinton, and we’re hearing some arguments . . . about how she’s ready for Day One,” Barack Obama declared here on Sunday. “It’s not just saying you’re ready for Day One. The question is, are you right on Day One?”The crowds have grown, the polls have tightened, and the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has changed dramatically as Super Tuesday nears, playing more to the former first lady’s strengths than to Obama’s.The Illinois senator’s forte was the stately pace of the early campaign states, when he had time to fill in the details of his celebrity silhouette. “When folks know me and my record, we do well,” Obama said this weekend on his campaign plane, jetting between Boise and Minneapolis. “If they don’t, (Clinton’s) got the advantages . . .The question is, ‘Do we have enough time to be able to penetrate people’s minds?’”America may know as early as Tuesday whose message resonated in the recent frenzy. For now, the candidates are spending more time reaching events than actually campaigning.Clinton has been drawing some of the biggest crowds of her campaign in the days leading up to Super Tuesday and reaching voters in ways she never did in her unsuccessful slog through Iowa.Last week alone she led rallies attended by 10,000 people in San Diego; 10,000 more in San Jose, Calif., and thousands in East Los Angeles. Aides concede she never quite understood the sparsely populated Hawkeye State, a small place ill-suited to her outsized persona. Clinton seems far more comfortable with half a country to woo, talking to voters on a mass scale, popping quickly in and out of states.Many are seeing her in person for the first time — and seem delighted to be in the presence of a political icon speaking about issues that resonate with middle class voters.These days, she is delivering a conventional stump speech with little variation. The rallies are so large, she seldom takes questions. With the exception of her misty-eyed event before the New Hampshire primary, Clinton is a famously private person who does not usually reveal much of herself.In Bridgeton, Mo., on Sunday for example, a woman asked Clinton if she was “electable.” It was a perfect opening for some personal chat, but Clinton didn’t bite.“I’ve already been through tough campaigns,” she said. “This is going to be open season once again, and we need to nominate someone with the experience and fortitude and know-how to take whatever they throw our way.”
