My Words are Flat and Harsh

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - When you are a candidate for the 2008 presidential race only drawing about 2 percent support in opinion polls, you have to keep telling yourself that the race is still wide open and there is plenty of time to catch up.

That is the position in which Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a veteran foreign policy heavyweight, finds himself, along with his fellow Democrats New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich , Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

All of them are hanging on for dear life to their campaigns, struggling for traction against the party's front-runners -- New York Sen. Hillary Clinton Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Some people say it is lonely at the top. Well, what about the bottom?

"Folks, I know it's hard and it requires some patience. This thing is wide open," said Biden, who made some forceful comments on Iraq, Iran and Sudan on Sunday at a debate among the Democratic White House contenders.

What about his 2 percent situation? "Our feeling is that as long as Iraq is the number one problem, whether it's New Hampshire or Iowa, we still have a major entree," said Biden's pollster, Celinda Lake.

There were no knockout punches in the debate, but each candidate's strategy was apparent. Clinton, as leader of the pack in the polls and in campaign financing, played it safe, talking of the need for a unified party on Iraq and directing fire at President George W. Bush.

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Hillary Clinton wants YouTube viewers to pick her campaign theme song — and the response, so far, has been music to her ears.

In a clear appeal to young voters, a YouTube video asks viewers to vote for Clinton's presidential campaign theme song on her Web site. The contest started May 16 and the number of songs was narrowed to 10 on Thursday — five initially suggested by the campaign and five write-in candidates.

They range from U2's "Beautiful Day" to Smash Mouth's version of "I'm a Believer" to Celine Dion's "You and I."

"I want to know what you're thinking on one of the most important questions of this campaign," Clinton said in a mock-serious tone during the initial video. "It's something we've been struggling with, debating, agonizing over for months. So now I'm turning to you, the American people."

According to the view counter on YouTube, the May 16 video had more than 500,000 views; a more recent post was seen by more than 40,000. Her campaign said it received more than 130,000 votes in the first round. It promises to release the final result "in the coming days."

In both videos Clinton sports a self-effacing attitude. She mocked her vocal abilities in the first post. The second features clips of people saying, "This is ridiculous" and "Are you freaking kidding me?" in response to the contest, along with Clinton making fun of some of the videos submitted.

"A little self-effacement in her recipe of self-presentation is probably a good idea," Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, said. "There is a certain sense of over-calculation."

Thompson said the request for help selecting a theme song is not unusual for Clinton, who preceded her 2000 run for the Senate with a "listening tour." This is just taking that concept and putting it online, he added.

"I'd rather have a candidate ask me what I think about major issues," Thompson said. "The way it's being used is: Let's have you guys come and tell me what's the best way to package myself to sell myself to you."

He described the technique as having "a slight ickyness to it."

But Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who directs the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said any way candidates can engage potential voters, especially young people, at this stage is good.

"If they don't know who you who you are, they're not going to go out and vote for you," she said.

The five suggested songs that got the most votes:

_"Suddenly I See," KT Tunstall

_"Rock This Country!" Shania Twain

_"Beautiful Day," U2

_"Get Ready," The Temptations

_"I'm a Believer," Smash Mouth

The top write-in suggestions are:

_"Are You Gonna Go My Way," Lenny Kravitz

_"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," McFadden & Whitehead

_"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," The Police

_"You and I," Celine Dion

_"The Best," Tina Turner