Iowa launched Obama. Will it help sink him?

A man walks with a cow at the Iowa State Fair, August 11, 2012.

/ CBS News/Brian Montopoli

(CBS News) DES MOINES, Iowa - Nearly four years ago, this flat, cornfield-covered, mostly-white Midwestern state was the launching pad for the triumphant presidential campaign of a Hawaii-born, African-American former law professor with a Harvard education and a Chicago political base.

In November, Republicans hope, it will help bring the improbable story of President Barack Obama - which began with a victory in the 2008 Iowa caucuses that set the course for a stunning upset of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination - to a disappointing end.

"Four years ago, Iowans were excited about President Obama," said Sean McCoy, Romney for President's Iowa communications director. "And now they feel let down. Obama didn't create the millions of new jobs or turn the economy around or cut the deficit in half like he promised. And now we're seeing more and more that the thrill is gone and the hope is lost."

Though Iowa was narrowly decided in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, Mr. Obama won the state by nearly ten points in 2008. Democrats acknowledge that that's not likely to happen again, and the polls bear that out: They suggest that the Hawkeye State, which offers six electoral votes, is evenly split between the president and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

"It was a historic campaign, you're never going to replace that," said Sue Dvorsky, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party. "This time it's not thrilling. But I would suggest the stakes are much higher."

CBS News

A potential dropoff in enthusiasm has Char Gustafson, who works at a Des Moines hospice organization, worried. Sitting on a bench at the massive Iowa State Fair - which Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan visits today - the liberal Democrat says she doesn't know if neighbors who came out for Mr. Obama four years ago will do so this time around.

"It's been a tough four years. Everybody's been busy working. And they're concerned about their jobs," she said. "And I think that people are just a little leery of everything."

Mr. Obama is clearly concerned: He begins a three-day bus tour through Iowa today, kicking things off in Council Bluffs. The president's speech, his campaign says, will contrast his vision to help the middle class with a Republican agenda that puts the rich first.

That's a message that resonates with dairy farmer Martin Costello, who stood inside one of the fair's cavernous livestock buildings filling a water bucket for one of his cows.

"I'm a small, independent business owner, and I'm not wealthy, and I think Mitt Romney is going to support the wealthy," he said.

Costello is a Democrat, but he votes for Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and says he wishes the government hadn't had to bail out the auto industries and big banks. He's the sort of voter that Tom Harkin, Iowa's other senator, says defines the Iowa electorate.

"By and large Iowans are pretty progressive people, but they have a conservative streak too," Harkin said after flipping chops and shaking hands at the Iowa pork tent. Like Grassley, he seems in person more like a retired farmer than a powerful longtime senator. "And they want a nice balance."

Harkin argues that Mr. Obama is going to win Iowa once again because he has offered that balance during his first term. But he is not predicting the sort of victory the president saw in 2008, when Mr. Obama offered a vision of hope and change unsullied by the compromises that come with incumbency.

"He's going to win Iowa," Harkin said. "It may not be as big as last time. But he's going to win it."

Romney the unrelatable?

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) looks at corn with corn farmer Lemar Koethe in a cornfield on August 8, 2012 in Des Moines, Iowa.

/ Justin Sullivan

Part of the reason, Harkin suggested, is that Romney - with his career in finance, his East Coast political base, and his perfect hair - simply isn't relatable to the average Iowan. When he came to the fair last summer, Romney looked less than natural when photographed in a short-sleeve shirt biting into a pork chop on a stick. (He steered clear of some of the fair's more infamous concoctions, like butter on a stick and deep-fried Oreo cookies.) Harkin expressed incredulity that on a recent visit to the drought-stricken state, Romney decided to visit a farm owned by a millionaire who owns a total of 54 farms.

"It's not really representative of the average Iowa farmer," he said. "Again just sort of - Governor Romney just kind of being out of touch."

Even if that perception takes hold, it may not hurt Romney as much as Harkin hopes. Asked if he could relate to the presumptive GOP nominee, Chris Vandehaar of Altoona offered a definitive no. But that didn't mean Romney didn't have his vote.

"He's not going to come to my house and have a beer," he said. "He's going to run the nation."

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[mikeonthebay]

Obama has already accused Romney of killing a guy's wife, being a felon, being a tax cheat, being a money launderer, closing factories just to abuse families, being a draft dodger, torturing a dog, and assaulting a fellow student. The Occupy Wall Street movement is the best illustration to date of what President Barack Obama's America looks like. It is an America where the lawless, unaccomplished, ignorant and incompetent rule. It is an America where those who have sacrificed nothing pillage and destroy the lives of those who have sacrificed greatly.. The left is using any event as a distraction as it pursues the Saul Alinsky tactics of community organizing. Obama's game plan is to divide the community into the Haves and the Have Nots, make the Have Nots believe they are unjustly treated by the Haves, build resentment against the American social and economic system, use church congregations to mobilize street agitators, and lobby government for higher taxes and big-spending welfare programs in order to confiscate the wealth and power of the Haves and turn it over to the Have Nots.

[PubliusCitizen]

Perhaps Democrats should finally be asking the valid questions that went unanswered in 2008. Who is this B oBAMa person? .. Why does he go to a church where the pastor HATE against AMERICA... Why does he not have a resume which includes his upbringing? So now we have 3.5 years of his reign - years in which he makes his own laws - many of which in his own words of 2008 - are not legal.... JOBS are LOST! It is time to throw this politician onto the scrapheap of history and give new ideas a chance - ELECT ROMNEY!

[PubliusCitizen]

Your comment shows a lack of depth or insight - you are attacking the candidate without making a point. What Romney did is completely legal under the US tax code. Do you invest in buggy whips or technology? ... If you have any intelligence - you invest where you make a profit.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Iowa farmers need help from the government. Romney, Ryan and republicans don't believe in using government to help people in need. They believe in using state and federal government to benefit the super rich.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

ROFLMAO! Here's your answer on Iowa! : )

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57492262-503544/hecklers-greet-ryan-at-first-solo-campaign-stop/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

[saneObserver]

Rock meet hardplace for the middle class. Obama's only accomplishement (and I think only goal) was Obamacare which will benefit to poor and cost the middle class. Romney make sure his rich friends and backers can do anything that makes them money at the expense of ecoomic sustaiability and that they continue to pay a way lower effective tax rate than working people.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

One thing that few people have discussed is that Mitt Romney is now directly married to a House of Representatives with a 16% approval rating. Obama was correct. Ryan is one of the Republicans in the House blocking the farm bill. More importantly, Obama called Ryan the intellectual leader of the House. The message is Paul Ryan is the brain behind a House that many Americans view as broken and dysfunctional.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

"Never underestimate the unpopularity of an anti-farm bill message in Iowa, but the Obama campaign has a deeper purpose here. State by state, they are going to define Paul Ryan by the things he opposes. In Florida, Pennsylvania, and other swing states, Ryan is going to be accurately portrayed as the man who would kill Medicare.

The Obama campaign is going to make Mitt Romney pay dearly for choosing Paul Ryan."

[Martha12345]

You'll not fool the people from Iowa twice, Mr. Obama.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Yeah...about Iowa...

Obama: "Right now folks here in Iowa and across the heartland are suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years. Farmers and ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads, and I know that things are tough right now.

The best way to help these states is for leaders in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some long-term certainty. But right now, too many members of Congress are blocking that bill from becoming law. Now, I'm told Governor Romney's new running mate might be around Iowa these next few days. And he's one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities. It's time to put politics aside and pass it right away.

But the folks suffering from this drought can't wait for Congress to do its job. So in the meantime, I've made sure my Administration is doing everything we can to provide relief to those who need it. Last week, we announced $30 million to help farmers and ranchers, get more water to livestock, and rehabilitate land affected by the drought. Today, we're announcing that the federal government will help livestock producers by purchasing over $150 million worth of meat and fish now, while prices are low, and freeze it for later. We've got a lot of freezers." (Laughter).

OBAMA 2012 : )

[mikeonthebay]

The farm bill had already passed, Obama was clueless.

[beachgirl2365]

AHHH IOWA, the state where I was forced to move as a child when I was 10 yrs old. The state where "I got the hell out of Dodge", when I was 16 yrs. old. I am glad to see that my instincts back when I was younger were so right on the money,....... I think the herbicides used in this state have really started to affect the brain function (or the lack thereof) in this state.