Hillary Clinton's Democratic opponents were quick to seize on reports this weekend that Clinton aides attempted to "plant" questions during two Clinton campaign events in Iowa, prodding event-goers to ask certain questions. Voters in early nominating states, Clinton's rivals said, aren't interested in pre-crafted queries.

John Edwards, who continues to step up his criticism of Clinton, likened the practice to that of President Bush, telling reporters that "what George Bush does is plant questions and exclude people from events, and I don't think that's what Democrats want to see in Iowa," according to the Des Moines Register.

Barack Obama, meanwhile, said in New Hampshire that "when I go into a town hall meeting, I never know what questions to expect and that's a good thing, because the people of New Hampshire should expect that their candidates are going to hear what's on the voters' minds and not what's been concocted by the candidate's staff," according to CNN.

Clinton said the planted questions were "news to me," adding that "neither I nor my campaign approve of that, and it will certainly not be tolerated." Clinton's New Hampshire spokeswoman, Kathleen Strand, said that no question has ever been planted at a New Hampshire Clinton event.

But reports of question-planting didn't surprise two local campaign-event watchers.

"My reaction when I saw that story was just sort of a chuckle that someone got caught with their hand in the cookie jar," said Steve Varnum, campaign director for PrioritiesNH, which highlights the use of federal tax dollars. "A lot of candidates have their hand in that particular cookie jar. She just happened to get caught." PrioritiesNH has sent staff members or volunteers to 436 candidate events so far this election cycle; they've managed to ask 190 questions.

"Not only I personally but our staff and volunteer bird dogs have come back many times and said something along the lines of 'Wow, they only took questions from their own people,' " Varnum added. Questions that are too well-framed are a tip-off, he said. "Most members of the public who go - the questions are not that smooth and they're not framed that well."

At one campaign event, the candidate was positioned in the middle, surrounded by audience members. "There was one guy sitting right across from me," Varnum said. "He never had his hand up until the candidate turned in his direction, then he meekly put his hand up." The candidate proceeded to call on him.

Wayne Lesperance, an associate professor of political science at New England College, has had a similar experience. "We've hosted dozens of presidential candidates here, and I'd say it's a fairly common practice." When Dick Gephardt visited the college in 2004 for an education-focused event, "there were a remarkable number of questions about education from people I'd never seen." Later, those questioners left with campaign staff, Lesperance said.

"From a public relations point of view, it looks kind of cheesy," Lesperance said. But "at the end of the day, unless it's preventing other people from getting their questions answered, unless it's a pervasive issue," it's not a big deal.

One activist saw a marked difference between Clinton events and those held by her Democratic rivals.

"Free speech seems more like free speech with the Obama and Edwards campaign than with the Clinton campaign," said Anne Miller of New Hampshire Peace Action.

Miller said she's been called on to ask questions at Obama and Edwards events, while she's only managed to get a word in with Clinton at the rope lines afterward. "I think Clinton's running her campaign much more like a Republican," she said.

Republican campaigns tend to be "pretty closed," she said. "In Romney's campaign, they actually hold onto the microphone so that you can't go on," Miller said. "They yank the microphone away from you."

Hedging his bets

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