Hillary, Barack Switch Playbooks

With the Iowa caucuses just weeks away, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama appear to have made an early new year's resolution: to be more like each other. The presidential contenders have switched playbooks, the Boston Globe reports, with Clinton highlighting her feel-good biography and Obama stressing his leadership qualities. "She is trying to soften her image and raise her favorability," said one analyst.

Clinton has been trotting out childhood friends and parents of ill children to showcase her advocacy work. Obama is aiming to demonstrate his strength dealing with serious issues. In a recent speech, Obama mostly omitted "hope," his stump speech catchword, and adopted instead a more forceful tone.