I'm best able to beat Hillary, McCain says

RINDGE, N.H. — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tried Sunday night to make the case that he is best positioned to defeat Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., in a general election, outlining a series of contrasts with her on issues including national security and health care.

In a speech here that his campaign described as the kind of pointed but respectful approach he will take for the rest of the campaign, McCain sought to tap into the anti-Clinton sentiment driving many Republican primary voters, particularly in New Hampshire.

At the same time, he tried to do it in a markedly different way from his two main rivals, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, who have both harshly attacked Clinton in making their own cases for electability.

The Republicans have taken aim at Clinton early in the campaign, months before even the first votes are cast, making the assumption that her lead position in national polls makes her the likely Democratic nominee. Each is trying to show that he would be best able to run what primary voters assume will be a very rough campaign.

McCain has been struggling to balance his stated desire for a respectful contest with his campaign's recognition that he has a lot of ground to cover in convincing voters that he is the most electable alternative to Clinton. The speech reflected that tension, citing an array of policy differences but using language that was impersonal.

"If I'm your nominee and Sen. Clinton is the nominee of the other party, the country will face as clear a choice as any in recent memory," he told an overflow crowd at Franklin Pierce University. "She will be a formidable candidate. And while our differences are many and profound, I intend this to be a respectful debate. She and I disagree over America's direction, and it is a serious disagreement. But I don't doubt her ability to lead this country where she thinks it should go."

For months, McCain has been rebuffing pressure from some his supporters and aides to step up his criticism of Clinton. But unlike his rivals, McCain has worked closely with Clinton in the Senate and has said repeatedly that he personally likes her.

Still, last week McCain was criticized for not admonishing a questioner at an event in South Carolina who referred to Clinton using a slur. McCain then turned the criticism into a mechanism to raise money for his campaign, resulting in his single biggest day of online fund raising to date.

In his speech on Sunday night, McCain tried to direct the focus of their differences on the question of experience, which he believes will set him apart not just from Clinton but from his Republican rivals.