ABOARD THE CLINTON PLANE OVER ARIZONA – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not explicitly say that Senator Barack Obama was a Democrat-in-Bush-clothing, but she sure left that impression during a news conference on Saturday evening that dwelled heavily on the Feb. 5 nominating contests.

Mrs. Clinton was asked if part of her argument against Mr. Obama was that he hadn’t been specific about his plans for the country. She replied that she herself had been “very specific” because she believed the next president had to be held accountable for delivering on his or her campaign promises.

And then:

“We cannot afford to elect someone, as we did with George Bush, and then be somewhat surprised by the decisions that are made and the directions that he leads the country,” Mrs. Clinton said. “The best way to avoid that is to have a candidate who will tell you what she will do, and then is held accountable for doing it once she’s in office. That’s the way I like to run my campaign, and that’s the kind of president I’ll be.”

I keyed off her remarks on Saturday morning – that her presidency would not be “a leap of faith” – and asked if she believed there was any risk for voters or America in an Obama presidency.

“Well, I have said on many previous occasions that I’m not asking voters to take a leap of faith – you know where I stand, you know my record, I’ve been vetted, I’ve been tested, probably more than anybody in the country who is in politics right now,” Mrs. Clinton said.

With that out of the way, I pressed my question again, but Mrs. Clinton was having none of it.

“I’m making the positive case for myself, and that is a really strong argument as to how best to win the general election and have a president to deliver on what the campaign is about,” she said. “And I think that’s important this time. We need a campaign that’s about the real issues facing the country; people expect to have their problems fixed. I think my campaign has offered that.”

Asked if she felt confident that she would on Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton replied, “I feel confident that we are doing well in a lot of states.” She was no more forthcoming when asked if she would win more of the 22 state contests than Mr. Obama.

“I’ll leave prediction to pundits,” she said. “I just know we’re waging vigorous campaigns in most of the states that vote on Tuesday, and we’re getting good reports.”

One interesting comment: She noted that at a conversation with a small group of voters in Los Angeles Saturday morning, no one brought up the Iraq war with her.

“Voters don’t mention it to me anymore,” she said. “People have still the same level of concern and outrage about President Bush’s policy in Iraq, but there seems to be an awareness that we have to wait to have a Democrat in the White House.”

She also said she was the best Democrat to face off against Senator John McCain of Arizona, should he emerge as the Republican nominee, because her positions were sharper than Mr. Obama’s, she said, on universal health care and the economy.

Hitting Mr. Obama again for not having a plan that forced all Americans to buy, obtain, or have health insurance, she highlighted her position and then imagined a debate between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama said:

“I think my strong advocacy for universal health care puts me in a much better position to take on John McCain. You know, John McCain’s going to get up there and say, ‘I have a health plan, it’s going to cover a lot of people. How many is your plan going to leave out?’ ‘Well, I don’t know, more or less than your plan.’ That is a losing argument for Democrats. As you’ve heard me say, I’m not running for president to put Band-aids on problems, if it comes to universal health care, I think it would be a real mistake for Democrats to nominate someone who has already given up on universal health care.”

Mr. Obama has referred to his plan as universal health care and says it would end up covering everyone because he would sufficiently lower costs and broaden access that uninsured Americans could enroll in coverage plans.

She also unloaded against Mr. Obama over gun control; he said on Saturday that he supported the rights of gun owners, but the Clinton camp pointed to a 1996 questionnaire on which Mr. Obama said he opposed the manufacture and sale of handguns.

“My understanding is that really within the space of 4 or 5 years, he’s had several positions on a number of really challenging issues,” she said.

Bill Burton, an Obama spokesman, replied by drawing on some of Mrs. Clinton’s other recent lines of attacks against Mr. Obama.

“Only in Washington could you be attacked for supporting Ronald Reagan’s policies one week and then for being too liberal next week,” Mr. Burton. “These are just the sort of divisive, petty politics that Senator Obama is trying to change.”