Clinton vows to weather attacks

CONCORD, N.H. - After accusations that she has been playing the victim - even playing the gender card - Hillary Clinton shifted tone yesterday and insisted that she could "stand the heat," and that her rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination are not treating her differently because she is a woman.

"I don't think they're piling on because I'm a woman," Clinton told reporters after filing her papers to appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot. "I think they're piling on because I'm winning."

Clinton, who is well ahead in polls in New Hampshire and nationally, said she understands that "that's what happens in campaigns." Then, in the same breath, she declared her toughness and also made a joke about gender roles.

"I anticipate it's going to get even hotter, and if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen," she said. "And I'm very much at home in the kitchen."

Clinton's opponents attacked her numerous times at Tuesday night's televised debate in Philadelphia, calling her inconsistent and evasive on several issues, including Social Security and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

The next morning, Clinton's campaign shot back against what it called "The Politics of Pile On," producing a video that showed her male rivals repeatedly saying her name.

At Wellesley College on Thursday, Clinton said the women's school, her alma mater, had "prepared me to compete in the all boys' club of presidential politics."

But that line only provided more fodder for her rivals.

On the "Today" show yesterday morning, Barack Obama said he hoped "that Senator Clinton wants to be treated like everybody else," and said that when he was criticized during a previous debate, "I didn't come out and say, 'Look, I'm being hit on because I look different from the rest of the folks on the stage.' We're not running for the president of the city council. We're running for the presidency of the United States of America."

Obama also pointed out that Clinton has boasted that she's had years of experience with Republican attacks and knows how to stand up to them.

"So it doesn't make sense for her, after having run that way for eight months, the first time that people start challenging her point of view, that suddenly she backs off and says, 'Don't pick on me,' " Obama said.

John Edwards, meanwhile, continued his barrage against Clinton, releasing a video, titled "The Politics of Parsing," which features clips of what he calls Clinton's double-talk during Tuesday night's debate. The video deploys a split screen with two images of Clinton appearing at the same time; first, the tape rolls on one screen showing her making one debate point, then the other screen rolls with an allegedly contradictory remark. The Republican National Committee produced a similar video.

Speaking to Globe editors yesterday, fellow candidate Chris Dodd said Clinton shouldn't be in the race if she can't stand up to criticism.

"If you're going to be president, get ready," he said.

But he also said that it was a "catastrophic mistake" for Edwards and Obama to telegraph that they would go after Clinton just to show how tough they could be, rather than to make points on specific issues.

Clinton also won the sought-after endorsement yesterday of New Hampshire state senator Lou D'Allesandro, who was New Hampshire campaign chairman for Edwards in 2004.

She took press questions yesterday for a bit under 20 minutesat what was only her second press conference in New Hampshire since she announced her run.

That has invited criticism from the media here, who are used to more access to presidential candidates.

Asked whether she would make herself available more often, she wasn't encouraging.

"We will continue to run our campaign as we run our campaign, and we'll see how that unfolds over the next two months," she said.

Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com