STORY CITY, IOWA, Dec. 29, 2007
Candidates Fighting To The Finish In Iowa
Hopefuls Descend To Win Over Undecided Voters And Gain Momentum As Voting Season Begins
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Play CBS Video Video Undecided Iowa Voters Many Iowa voters are still undecided even though the caucuses are fast approaching. As Seth Doane reports, they want to hear more.
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Video Edwards Sets Sights On Iowa John Edwards is no stranger to Iowa, having campaigned there in 2004. But will those faithful translate to victory? Chip Reid reports.
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Video Campaign Notebook It's turned into a tight three-way race for the Democrats in Iowa. Russ Mitchell reports for the CBS News Campaign '08 Notebook.
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. greets residents at a campaign stop at the Denison Fire Department in Denison, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2007. (AP)
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(AP/CBS)
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News Tools Campaign Calendar The latest list of primary and caucus dates as states continue jockeying for position.
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In-Depth 2008 Presidential Hopefuls Profiles and the latest news on the Democrats and Republicans running for the White House.
As a light snow fell outside, Hillary Clinton stood in an overflowing Iowa elementary school gymnasium on Friday and made a case for why she should be the Democratic nominee for president.
“Some people think you get change by demanding it, some people think you get change by hoping for it,” she said, in a shot at her two main rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards. “I think you get change by working really, really hard for it every single day.”
With the January 3rd caucuses less than a week away and no clear frontrunner having emerged in either party, virtually all of the major candidates - along with a fair share of campaign workers and media - will be working really, really hard every single day between now and Thursday. Among the presidential hopefuls campaigning in Iowa are Clinton, Edwards, Obama, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and Fred Thompson. Some are cramming up to five events per day into their schedules in an effort to woo undecided voters.
And a win isn’t necessarily what they’re looking for. The real goal in the state, according to Huckabee’s Iowa campaign manager Eric Woolson, is to exceed expectations.
“It’s not winning, it’s having the media decide you’re the winner, you’re the surprise,” says Woolson. “In March, when [Huckabee] was at less than 1 percent, I was saying to people we need to finish in the top three, and everyone laughed because we were in 9th place. Now when I say the same thing everybody laughs at me because we’re expected to win.”
Huckabee sits atop polls of likely GOP caucus-goers in the state, followed closely by Romney, who has been running ads critical of the former Arkansas governor’s positions in an effort to close the gap. The former Massachusetts governor has held more than 200 events with voters in Iowa, according to Romney regional spokesperson Sarah Pompei.
“We’ve made no secret of our strategy to do well in the early states,” she says.
Huckabee has moved much of his staff to Iowa, and he has benefited from the backing of home-schooling and pastors organizations in a state where 40 percent of likely GOP caucus-goers are evangelicals. Romney has stressed his position on illegal immigration in his Iowa advertisements and appearances, an issue that tops the list of concerns of the state’s likely GOP caucus-goers.
Ron Paul, Giuliani, Thompson and McCain are all hoping for a finish in third place or better in the state, which would give them momentum heading into the New Hampshire primary on January 8th.
“Third or better would catapult us - it would start the revolution, as we say,” says Jeff Jared, Paul’s special projects coordinator in Iowa.
Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, is downplaying its candidate’s chances in the state, where polls show the former first lady in a virtual tie with Edwards and Obama.
“Senator Clinton has said that Iowa is going to be her toughest state,” says Mark Daley, Clinton’s Iowa communications director. “She has never participated or campaigned here before and she isn’t from a neighboring state.”
Edwards’ Iowa spokesman, Dan Leistikow, says the campaign is satisfied with where the Iowa race stands now. Some commentators have suggested that Edwards has focused on disproportionately on Iowa, but Leistikow argues otherwise.
“We’ve spent the exact same number of days here as Obama and just a few more than Clinton,” he says. “And they have put three times as much into television ads.”
Obama’s Iowa communications director, Josh Earnest, also sought to counter what he says is a misconception - that his candidate is dependent on college students returning from their winter breaks to help him to victory.
“The polls are not polling college students,” says Earnest, who argues that any boost the Obama campaign gets from college students will simply be a bonus. “There’s no secret. This is about fundamentals. If you have the organization, and the volunteers, and the message, you’re going to have a robust turnout operation.”
At the Clinton event in Story City, Iowan Mary Harris said she had come to see whom she might support if her favored candidate, Joe Biden, is not viable at her caucus. At a Democratic caucus, a candidate needs to earn 15 percent support; if he does not, his supporters must choose another candidate. Second-choice preferences can be crucial in Iowa, a state with less than 3 million people and a 2004 caucus turnout of less than 6 percent of eligible voters.
“If I have to have a second choice on caucus night, I’m still undecided,” says Harris. 40 percent of likely caucus-goers say they have yet to even settle on a first choice.
“It’s close on both sides,” says Arthur Sanders, the chair of the department of politics at Drake University in Des Moines. “There isn’t any real way of knowing whose organizations are going to be most effective, and the January 3rd date presents problems that nobody has had to deal with before.”
Among those problems are a nationally televised college football game, college students in the middle of their vacations, and the proximity to the New Year’s holiday.
“You want about 48 hours where you can mobilize your people, but that’s New Year’s Day,” says Sanders. “Everything’s compressed. At the time you should be beginning your really hard push, you’ve got to delay things. Nobody knows what kind of impact that will have.”
By Brian Montopoli
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 38 Commentshttp://www.ronpaul2008.com/veterans/
is anyone other than Dr. Paul trying to reduce the size and power of government? How can we cut taxes without cutting spending?
Before you listen to Rudy McHuckaThom tell you how they are going to use government to solve all your problems, think about how government contributed to your problems in the first place.
Whatever happened to Bush''s "pocket VETO" of the Defense Bill.
Swept UNDER the carpet I guess.
Oh well, back to the Crockpot of homemade soup and a nap.
NO news here.
There are no known Larry Craigs in the new adminstration and I have a do not ask policy.
Hmmm a New Groundhog day??? Maybe a national holiday when all three show their "shadow".
ARG poll has Mitt at 32% to Slick Huck''s 23%
Mason Dixon Poll has Mitt at 27% and Slick Huck at 23%
........GO MITT! the most qualified candidate running from either party in 2008, no question about it.
OK,Sec. of the Treasury does pay better than my current state accounting job, I''ll take it! Just one caveat, I don''t serve at the pleasure of the President so don''t go Larry Craig on me.
I''m sure Searing Truth will bring them in dead or alive before Osama comes out to see his shadow.
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Posted by realpatriot1
How about Secretary of the Treasury? Homeland director formersarge and Attorney General Searing Truth are working on having Bush/Cheney tried as we speak.
Good choice of ticket but since Wes is not the best on the stump I prefer him as Sec. of Defense.
Radiob,
As your first act in office will you place Bush & Cheney before a military tribunal or extradite them to the Hague?
As long as we''re fantasising we might as well really enjoy it!
By the way, I''m available for Chairperson of OMB.
Why are they wasting all of their energy, your money and time for when Tweb has already declared me president as of 12/22/07 and I reluctantly accepted.
And for any naysayers there were no hanging Chads, I do not even know a Chad to hang.
%u201CIf you go up and down the issues literally, as far as no more government no matter what. Just please no more government and all of these issues on closed government, on IDs, on cameras - all the things that are true to my heart, Ron Paul comes out the winner.%u201D
- Posted by cfin5 at 12:40 AM : Dec 30, 2007
See also:
"Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency."
- Mao Zedong
(No wonder Richard Nixon loved the guy)
Posted by cfin5
Jerry Pournelle? The sci-fi hack that also offers idiotic commentary about computers? the guy who calls his office Chaos Manor? riiiight.
Next time, try L. Ron Hubbard. These guys write fiction for a living, dude.
I am so sick and disgusted of the greedy government officials and their election system that only offer deception.
- Barack Obama, October 2, 2002
Barack is the man.
- Posted by jkojs at 06:20 PM : Dec 29, 2007
Was he ever!
Not just right, but speaking in words whose eloquence rivals those of Lincoln and Churchill.
There is no doubt that Barack Obama, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, is the most intellectually gifted candidate in the presidential field.
Here is his Iraq speech, given on October 2, 2002:
http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php
...because they eat their spinach...
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