Taking a page right out of the Republican playbook Hillary tries to frighten us into voting for her.

Barack Obama and John Edwards might want to change the world. But Hillary Clinton wants to protect you against it.

That's the unmistakable message that Senator Clinton is pounding out in this final phase of the campaign to capture the Iowa caucuses. In a world brimming with danger and uncertainty, she argues as she blitzes the Hawkeye State, there's no time to waste daydreaming about pie-in-the-sky promises of reform.

Instead, the American people must choose a leader ready to immediately start fixing the problems that already exist and one who is immediately ready to face the inevitable and "unpredictable" crises looming right over the horizon. And that would be Clinton.

"We know some of the challenges that await the next president," Clinton told a packed crowd at a junior high school Saturday morning. "But no matter how much we know, we can't possibly anticipate all the problems."

The razzamatazz cheerleading, sloganeering style that punctuated her earlier campaign events has now been replaced by a sedate, somber, even grave tone coming from the podium.

Clinton never raised her voice, never elevated the mood, and at times sounded like a concerned, responsible parent telling the kids that something terrible was taking place outside the door but not to worry because Mom and Dad - or in this case Hill and Bill- would take care of it.

Becoming president, she said in a hushed tone, is "an awesome responsibility. And it was thrown into relief with the events last Thursday with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto."

If you read these words without knowing who they were attributed to wouldn't you automatically think Rudy? Or Romney? Or Duncan Hunter?

What is next?

Will Hillary choose Joe Lieberman as her running mate?

I would not put anything past her at this point. But I, for one, have absolutely no confidence in anybody who plays the fear card in this election. Hillary just shows her true colors by going for the cheap shot. I doubt seriously that Obama or Edwards would resort to such pathetic tactics. And it is clear this is no accident since Bill has been using the same threat laden speech. I can only hope that this is just as transparent to my fellow Democrats as it is to me.