Democrat Barack Obama got into the weeds of Illinois political procedure defending his practice of voting more than 100 times as ``present'' rather than for or against the bill.

  These votes represent a tiny minority of his six-year roll call record in Springfield, IL.

    Let's start with the obvious. State Senator Obama wouldn't have that right in New Hampshire. The Senate here does allow one to vote yes, no or the incumbent may ``pair'' his vote with someone who is not there and has an opposing view of the bill.

     The NH device is merely to try and paper over the no-show's voting record.

     In the NH House of Representatives, vote yes, no or get out.

     At any rate, Obama denied on ``Good Morning America'' that voting present is just the kind of ``inside politics'' the candidate rails about on the trail.

    Obama insisted it was typically used to inform the sponsoring legislation that the bill had promise but needed work.

     ``It was to perfect legislation,'' Obama said.

     The candidate was in his Nashua campaign office during the live interview.

     Meanwhile, Obama pushed back with a now-familiar line at former President Bill Clinton who has said casting a primary ballot for Obama is risky given his inexperience.

    ``The last time this charge was leveled, ironically, was at Bill Cinton in 1991 and 1992,'' Obama said, alluding to attacks on the Clinton as the governor of a small, quirky, southern state.

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