Democrats Stage Final Drive in N.H. Primary : Campaign: Front-runner Tsongas strikes back at his critics. Polls show Clinton hurt by controversies.

Former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas struck back at critics of his front-running candidacy Monday as Democratic contenders mounted their final drives for votes in today’s New Hampshire primary. The winner will get a boost toward becoming the party’s 1992 nominee.

Tsongas contested charges that he is too supportive of nuclear energy and that he lacks national appeal. Meanwhile, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, who has been running second in the polls, claimed to be gathering momentum.

But surveys show Clinton’s candidacy has been hurt by two controversies: unsubstantiated allegations of marital infidelity and questions about his Vietnam War-era draft status. In various tracking polls, Clinton trails Tsongas by margins ranging from seven to 20 points.

These polls--which are based on small samples and typically have margins of error of plus or minus five percentage points--also indicate that Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey are about 10 points behind Clinton in the battle for third place. Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. is last, roughly tied with a write-in movement for New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.

Thanks to the brilliant New England sunshine and the Presidents’ Day holiday, all five would-be successors to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln could find encouragement in the size of their crowds during their final hours on the stump. But all that was certain about this turbulent campaign was that it would be remembered most for the melodrama stirred by the controversy over Clinton’s past and for the surprising success of Tsongas’ understated and sober style.

In his appearances Monday, Tsongas tried to blunt criticism from his opponents, leveled at him during a 90-minute televised debate Sunday night, concerning his support of nuclear power development. “I was upset by that characterization last night,” he said. “There’s one environmentalist in this race, and you’re looking at him.”

He reiterated his argument that some nuclear power is needed as an alternative to fossil fuels to try to forestall global warming.

Tsongas got some help in his efforts to defuse the anti-nuclear criticism from former state Rep. Dudley Dudley, who was a staunch opponent of the controversial Seabrook Nuclear Station at Seabrook, N.H.

Introducing Tsongas at his first stop of the day, she said: “Without a doubt, Paul Tsongas is the best environmental candidate we have had running since Morris Udall,” referring to the former congressman from Arizona.

Tsongas tried to rebut concerns that he is only a regional candidate, saying that a new poll in the Rocky Mountain News showed him running second in Colorado, which will hold its primary March 3. An earlier poll, he said, put him second in Maryland, which will also vote on March 3. Tsongas noted that he placed second to Harkin in the Feb. 10 Iowa precinct caucuses, ahead of Kerrey, who is from neighboring Nebraska. He received about 4% to Harkin’s 78% and Kerrey’s 2%.

“I suppose they are right,” he said of his detractors. “I’m a regional candidate--North, South, East and West.”

Meanwhile, Clinton on Monday sought to close the presumed gap between himself and Tsongas. He ranged from tiny Fecteau’s Country Store in Epping--a traditional New Hampshire Democratic stop--to the huge Fox Run Mall in Newington, relentlessly seeking out voters in restaurants and barber shops to repeat his campaign theme for the day: “The momentum is on our side.”

As he has done for the last several days, Clinton focused his attention on President Bush, for the most part not mentioning his Democratic rivals. “The President has fulfilled his mission. He is yesterday’s man,” Clinton told a crowd outside Nashua City Hall, where he began his campaign in the state last October.

Contrasting the achievements of the two presidents being honored Monday with the economic difficulties faced by the incumbent chief executive, Clinton said: “Washington has the monument, Lincoln has the memorial and George Bush has every unemployment office in the country.”

But Clinton departed briefly from his attacks on Bush to fire a rare shot at Tsongas, who opposes the middle-class income tax cut that Clinton favors. Tsongas contends the tax cut is designed to get votes, not to help the economy. “I don’t feel morally inferior because I feel the middle class has been kicked around long enough,” Clinton said.

Clinton also contended that Tsongas’ stress on creating economic opportunity ignores another important responsibility of the President, which he said is “to inspire hope.”

Nashua resident Bill Mulvey spoke with Clinton for several minutes about his Arkansas record on labor and energy issues. “I’d vote for him,” he said afterward. Over the weekend, Mulvey said, he was leaning toward Tsongas but has begun changing his mind.

“It’s hard,” Mulvey added. “I’ve been married 36 years, and I don’t agree with stepping out on your wife. But of all of them, he could be the one to beat Bush.”

For his part, Kerrey spent much of the day trying to convince voters that his vision of the nation’s problems is broader than the health care plan that has been his centerpiece.

Admitting that he has been hurt by the perception that he is a one-issue candidate, Kerrey said at a Concord press conference: “People in New Hampshire are beginning to awaken (to the fact) that what I’m talking about is just the beginning of change.”

With the health care crisis solved, Kerrey said, the nation would be poised to tackle a wider agenda that includes improving this country’s international competitiveness, bettering its schools and reducing street crime.

Kerrey also conceded that Tsongas’ emphasis on economic growth is a “terrific message,” but pointed out that he has more practical business experience than the former Massachusetts senator. “Though I admire the plan, what counts is execution,” Kerrey said.

As for Harkin, he set the tone for the day with a pep talk to his campaign workers in his Concord headquarters, exulting over his performance in Sunday night’s debate. “You’re the only one with a plan to get people back to work in this state in one year, not 10 years,” he quoted a supporter as telling him afterward.

“All those other people were talking about adjusting the tax code,” Harkin said. “They all sounded like accountants.”

In an appeal for help on Election Day, Harkin said: “Go out and hit those streets, get our people out to vote. Find those last few undecideds that we can pull our way, get them out to vote.

“Every vote counts,” he said, citing John F. Kennedy’s presidential victory in 1960 in which the winning margin, Harkin said, amounted to about one vote per precinct around the country. “Tomorrow, I know I can feel it. It is there for us.”

Brown spent his last day attending two open forums in Concord. He called his rivals insiders, part of a stagnant system he wants to change, and he scoffed at Sunday night’s debate. “It’s like this self-contained bubble, some kind of ‘Gong Show,’ ” he said. “You sit there and they pop these little questions.” His staff patched together clips from both appearances into a 30-minute “information-ad,” which it aired on Manchester’s WMUR-TV at 7 p.m.

Times staff writers David Lauter, Paul Richter and Karen Tumulty contributed to this story.