When asked in surveys, Democrats answer overwhelmingly that they consider Clinton their strongest candidate against the Republicans. In memos to supporters, Clinton strategist Mark Penn has highlighted those numbers, as well as her continuing lead in the national horse race, as reassurance that all is well.

But in several recent polls, the senator from New York has not done as well as either Edwards or Obama in matchups with prospective Republican opponents, losing in some and winning by smaller margins in others.

On the Republican side, Giuliani's general-election appeal — and his presumed ability to put Democratic states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania in play — has been undermined by his slippage in national polls, the result, in part, of Huckabee's rise.

The flow of news, too, hasn't been good for either Clinton or Giuliani.

For much of the past two weeks, Clinton's intended message — that she is the one candidate with the experience to make change possible — has been drowned out by her campaign's off-target attacks on Obama.

First, in response to an Obama stump-speech line about how he never expected to be where he is today, the Clinton campaign pointed to an essay Obama wrote as a young boy talking about wanting to become president. The campaign was widely ridiculed for having done so.

Then, Bill Shaheen, a national co-chairman of the Clinton campaign, said in an interview last week that Obama, if he became the Democratic nominee, would be attacked by Republicans for his admitted drug use as a teenager.

That, too, was widely viewed as a cheap shot. Shaheen resigned his post on Thursday, and Clinton disowned his words on Friday.

The Clinton campaign is not conceding that Iowa or any other early state is lost.

Knowing that an Iowa win would undo whatever damage the campaign has incurred, the senator is scheduled to launch an "Every County Counts Tour" there today. The candidate and her surrogates plan to visit all 99 Iowa counties over five days, with Clinton hitting 16 of them.

In the first four states with Democratic primaries and caucuses, Clinton now has a substantial lead only in Nevada, which caucuses on Jan. 19. In Iowa, she's no better than even with Obama, with Edwards not far behind. In New Hampshire, Obama has caught her, at least in some polls.

For his part, Giuliani has made news largely through unwanted stories about the extramarital affair he conducted as New York mayor with his current wife, Judith.