On The HUSTINGS

CLINTON ACCUSES OBAMA OF ILLEGAL 'ROBOCALLS'

Senator Clinton's campaign has accused Senator Obama's camp of violating New Hampshire law by making automated phone calls to state residents who have signed up for the national do-not-call list.

"You should make sure your campaign follows the law especially when you are a campaign … that talks about being a different kind of campaign when in fact what you're doing here is the same kind of old tired tricks," a co-chairwoman of Mrs. Clinton's New Hampshire effort, Kathy Sullivan, said during a conference call with reporters last night.

In the calls, Mr. Obama's campaign disputes claims that his decision to vote present on several abortion-related bills while a state senator in Illinois suggests he wavered in his commitment to abortion rights. "Hillary Clinton's last-minute smears won't protect the right to choose, but as president, Barack Obama will," the message says.

Ms. Sullivan said Mr. Obama's campaign failed to "scrub" its list for numbers on the do-not-call list and offered no description of the calls' source until 38 seconds into the call, despite a requirement to do so within the first 30 seconds. "This is not rocket science," she said.

Ms. Sullivan acknowledged that she knew of only two cases so far where calls went to people on the do-not-call list. However, she said the law is taken seriously in New Hampshire, especially in the wake of a flap over allegedly illegal calls from the Republican Party in a congressional race in 2006. The target of those calls was Paul Hodes, who won the race and is now a national co-chairman of Mr. Obama's campaign.

"Every hour since Hillary Clinton lost in Iowa, her attacks have become more and more desperate," a campaign official for Mr. Obama, Ned Helms, said. He said the vendor who made the calls assured the campaign that do-not-call numbers were scrubbed from the list. Mr. Helms said "every step" would be taken to prevent any future mistakes, if one had occurred.

PRESIDENT BUSH: NO HANKERING FOR CAMPAIGN TRAIL

President Bush said Friday that the flurry of political activity in Iowa and New Hampshire has not left him longing to be back out on the stump.

"I don't wish for things that are impossible to wish for," Mr. Bush told an interviewer from Israel's Channel 2. "And so I'm an observer, but with a pretty intimate knowledge of the sentiments that these candidates are going through."

Mr. Bush said the process is arduous, but rightly so. "It lets the electorate see how people handle stress, and equally importantly, it lets the candidate, the person running, determine whether or not they have the inner fortitude necessary to be the president of the United States," he said in an interview. "When times are tough is when you're really tested; when you have to make the tough decisions of war and peace. And it requires an inner fortitude that I think you begin to develop when you're out there in those primaries."

Mr. Bush spoke with the Israeli television outlet in advance of a trip he is making this week to the Middle East.

ENDORSEMENT WATCH

A former Democratic presidential candidate and senator, Bill Bradley of New Jersey, is scheduled to campaign with Mr. Obama in New Hampshire today. In a statement yesterday, Mr. Bradley credited the Illinois senator with "making idealism a central focus of our politics" and being "best positioned to win in November."

In the Republican contest, Senator McCain of Arizona picked up endorsements yesterday from Governor Douglas of Vermont and from the Detroit Free Press. Michigan holds its primaries on January 15, though the impact of its delegates is in doubt because of sanctions both major parties have imposed for moving up the voting date.