In response to Obama's show of strength in Iowa, Hillary Clinton has gone on the offensive, starting with a barrage about the "superiority" of her "comprehensive" health care plan, and moving on to a literal attack on Obama's character:

....asked whether she was saying this was an issue of character when it comes to Senator Obama, Senator Clinton at first demurred -- but then said "it's beginning to look a lot like that. You know, it really is, where you can't get a straight answer on health care; where somebody who runs on ethics and not taking money from certain people is found out to have at least skirted if not violated the FEC rules, and to use lobbyist and PAC money to do so."

Senator Clinton seemed to express something like regret about the frontal assault, saying she'd rather be attacking Republicans and America's problems. But, she said, "I have been, for months, on the receiving end of rather consistent attacks. Well, now the fun part starts. We're into the last month, and we're going to start drawing the contrasts."

"I think that folks from some of the other campaigns are reading the polls and starting to get stressed and issuing a whole range of outlandish accusations," Obama said in Des Moines.

"Washington insiders might think throwing mud is 'fun,' but the American people are looking for leadership that can unite this country."

Clinton whacked Obama on several fronts, bashing his lobbyist-funded political action committee and challenging his guts over health care - "Sen. Obama got to the brink and blinked."

Her campaign even dredged up a kindergarten essay Obama wrote titled: "I want to be President" to argue that Obama is lying when he says he hasn't been planning a White House run for decades, like his rivals.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton laughed that off.

"I'm sure tomorrow they'll attack him for being a flip-flopper because he told his second-grade teacher he wanted to be an astronaut," he said.

Significantly, when asked if Clinton had anything to say about John Edwards, who is running neck and neck with Clinton in the poll, she was all sweetness.
Clinton touts herself as a tough political fighter, though she is quick to decry the "politics of personal destruction" and accuse her rivals of "piling on."
While showing evident relish for the fight ahead, she added, "I would much rather be attacking Republicans and attacking the problems of our country, because ultimately that's what I want to do as President."

This is getting nastier than I thought.

Meanwhile, Hillary has an army of sorts, and there's every sign that her Iowa troops are being readied for battle:

The event here today was also a new one. It was called "Take Your Buddy to Caucus," and it basically involved Mrs. Clinton - in spirited pitchman mode - exhorting and instructing her audience about how to participate in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, and asking them to recruit "buddies" who will come along and support Mrs. Clinton on caucus night as well. She also invited two women to the stage who extolled their buddy-buddy relationship.

Cards were left on the seats here. People were asked to sign a card saying they would be a "Buddy for Hillary Clinton for President," and in doing so commit to the following:
* Call my buddy twice before caucus night.
* Write and mail a reminder postcard to my buddy reminding him or her about caucus night.
* Make a plan to ride with my buddy to the caucus or meet at the caucus site.

Winning the Iowa caucuses has always been, in large part, about which candidate has the best ground organization, and Mrs. Clinton - whose supporters include a number of caucus newcomers - is trying to insure that these people turn out on caucus night to support her.

Also new today were the empty seats. Usually Mrs. Clinton's events are standing room only, but there were about 40 empty seats out of a couple hundred. Many people in the audience, when asked by Mrs. Clinton, identified themselves as county leaders or precinct captains for her campaign. The weather was nasty here on Saturday and roads and pavement remain somewhat icy, but - given that I haven't seen it before - it seemed worth noting that it was not a full house.

All I know is that despite diligent attempts, I couldn't watch it.

One of the constants about Hillary is that when the going gets tough, Bill appears on the scene, almost as if on cue, to remind voters of What's At Stake.

"Thinking about tomorrow"? Then think about yesterday!

An integral part of Mr Obama's appeal is that he represents a generational shift away from what his supporters call the "Bush-Clinton years" - the nearly two decades that a member of one or other family has been president.

If Mr Clinton is worried about this, he was not showing it on Tuesday evening. For him, it was just like the old days.

He even referred to Americans "thinking about tomorrow", a line from the Fleetwood Mac number that became his 1992 campaign theme song.
"I don't believe in dynasties," he insisted. "But I don't believe she should be eliminated because she has spent the last 32 years married to me."
He dutifully described the former First Lady as "the strongest, most well prepared, most reliable, steadiest, best problem solver" in the 2008 race, though it was notable that these were more prosaic qualities than those often - rightly - attributed to him.

But he could not help returning again and again to the subject of William Jefferson Clinton.

Not that he had to, but Karl Rove was kind enough (if sarcastically so) to offer Obama some words of advice:

Hillary may come over as calculating and shifty but she looks in control. You, on the other hand, often come over as weak and ineffectual. In some debates, you do not even look at her when disagreeing with her, making it look as if you are afraid of her. She offers you openings time and again but you do not take advantage of them. Sharpen your attacks and make them more precise.

Take the exchange in the Philadelphia debate about Bill and Hillary keeping documents hidden about her role as first lady in his White House. She was evasive. You spoke next. You would have won a big victory if you had turned to her and said: "Senator, with all due respect, you and your husband could release those documents right now if you wanted to. Your failure to do so raises questions among a lot of Americans about what you're hiding and those questions would hurt our party if you were our nominee." But your response was weak as dirty dishwater. Do not let other great opportunities pass by.