Alludes to Obama campaign as “the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen” HANOVER, NH — Although the presidential ambitions of Sen. Hillary Clinton have been bruised in recent days, former President Bill Clinton isn’t surprised. “This campaign is playing out exactly as I thought it would,” Clinton told a crowd of students gathered at Dartmouth College Monday night. “All the pundits, as usual, are wrong. I always [told Hillary] ‘You’ll have a hard time winning the primaries, but if you get nominated, you’ll win the general election by a wide margin’.” Toward the end of the event, Clinton grew heated when discussing the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama. He suggested that the basis of Obama’s campaign rested solely on the fact that he’s a good speaker, a charistmatic campaigner and Obama’s claim that he’s consistently been against the Iraq war. “This is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen,” said Clinton. He rejected Obama’s argument that the Illinois senator has always been against the war in Iraq (and to a greater degree than Sen. Clinton) and accused Obama of running a negative campaign. “Did you like it when he called Hillary the senator from Punjab? Did you like that?” he asked astudent. “The idea that one of these campaigns is postiive and the other is negative — when the reverse is true — … is a little tough to take.” Clinton also shrugged off concerns raised by one student that Hillary’s “sworn enemies” were too much to overcome. “It’s hard to get blood out of scar tissue,” said Clinton. “I’m not worried about that.” Clinton told the audience that his wife is ahead in Florida and said that she would take the crucial state of Ohio and likely Arkansas as well. He said that she wouldn’t change anything in response to her disappointing showing in Iowa, but he said, “I think she’ll have to run as an underdog for a while. And that’s okay: It ought to be hard to run for president. I think it’s good. … She never thought she was entitled to be nominated.” “I think she needs to be prepared to get out there and keep running,” said Clinton. “You know the outcome is uncertain. You’ll have ups and downs and you just have to believe. … And she needs to remember that this is a long process.” It should be noted that, contrary to an article in Monday’s New York Times suggesting that President Clinton’s audiences have dwindled, hundreds of students waited in line outside, unable to get in. In response to a student’s question, Clinton rejected any suggestion that he’d accept a nomination to serve on the Supreme Court by a potential President Hillary. “That’s one of the only things that, if Hillary asked me to do, I’d decline,” said Clinton. “I’d suggest that she appoint someone at least ten years younger than me and who can serve forty years.” Clinton also rejected one student’s concern that a Hillary presidency would continue a Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton trend in the Oval Office. “This is not a blood deal,” said Clinton. “It’s not like she’s getting this because she’s my wife. I think she should win because she’s the best qualified person. If you don’t think so, don’t vote for her, but don’t vote againsther because she had the experience of living in the White House for eight years.”