CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A day before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama were to compete for a small scattering of delegates in Wyoming, Clinton cast herself as the underdog in the Democratic race and said the odds are not in her favor.

Clinton's campaign has sought to set low expectations for today's caucuses in Wyoming as well as next week's primary in Mississippi.

"I said, 'Well, you know what? I'm going to go to Wyoming anyway.' I know it's an uphill climb, I'm aware of that," Clinton told an audience of more than 1,500 at a community college in Cheyenne.

Twelve delegates will be awarded in Wyoming's caucuses, followed by 33 on Tuesday in Mississippi.

OBAMA ADVISER RESIGNS FROM POST

The battle for the Democratic presidential nomination took a sharp turn away from the hunt for delegates yesterday morning after an adviser to Barack Obama was forced to quit the campaign for making disparaging remarks about Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Samantha Power, a Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize winner, was quoted in a Scottish newspaper calling Clinton "a monster" who would do anything to win the presidency.

The campaign, which had earlier distanced itself from Power, yesterday morning announced that she had resigned.

"I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Sen. Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Sen. Clinton, Sen. Obama, and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months," Power said.

MCCAIN TESTY WITH REPORTER

NEW ORLEANS — Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter yesterday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being Kerry's vice president in 2004.

"Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain told the reporter. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know."

The reporter, Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, was following up on a question McCain had answered at a campaign event yesterday morning in Atlanta. Asked if he might consider Kerry as a running mate, since Kerry asked him in 2004, McCain said no.

Afterward, on a campaign flight, Bumiller said she looked in the Times' archives and that McCain had denied talking with Kerry in a May 2004 story.

McCain interrupted, saying that everyone knew he had a private conversation, and he kept interrupting as she tried to follow up.

RNC JOINS WITH MCCAIN CAMPAIGN

WASHINGTON — The Republican National Committee yesterday named four people who will help build support for the party's presidential nominee-in-waiting, John McCain, and other Republicans in the general election.

Frank Donatelli will serve as the RNC's deputy chairman and work as the liaison between the McCain campaign and the committee. Lew Eisenberg will lead the fundraising efforts, and Mike DuHaime will act as senior adviser for political operations.