In Iowa, Dems Vary On Style, Not Substance

Obama, Clinton And Edwards Make Their Final Push With The Caucuses Just Two Days Away

(CBS)  This story was written by CBSNews.com political reporter Brian Montopoli.

---

It’s hard to escape the word “change” at a Barack Obama event. It was everywhere at a packed Obama rally at a Des Moines middle school Sunday night: On the placards held up by supporters, the huge banner behind the podium, and the lips of the candidate himself.

“We’ve talked about change when we were down, we’ve talked about change when we were up,” Obama told the crowd during slowly building, 40-minute speech. “And this change thing must be catching on because I notice now suddenly everybody is talking about change.”

Change isn’t the only thing everybody is talking about. Like Hillary Clinton, Obama talks about his experience, though he likes to say that his is from outside Washington. Like John Edwards, he adopts a populist mantle, complaining that “we’ve got C.E.O.s making more in ten minutes than ordinary workers are making in an entire year.”

When it comes to the three leading Democrats, in fact, the differences are often articulated in degrees. Edwards, Clinton and Obama have similar positions on the majority of the issues, and as they make their final pitches to Iowa voters, their rhetoric tends to be about who is the most in favor of the working man, who really represents change.

At a Des Moines high school on Saturday night, Edwards was pushing the populist rhetoric hard. With “Steelworkers For Edwards” chanting from the balcony, the candidate, who entered to the strains of John Mellencamp’s “Our Country,” attacked drug companies, insurance companies, and Exxon/Mobil. (Mellencamp will campaign with Edwards on Jan 2nd, the day before the caucuses.)

Edwards talked about a young woman who died because her health insurance company long refused to pay for a liver transplant. “And they want me to sit at a table and negotiate with these people?,” he asked.

Clinton, appearing at an elementary school in Story City, spent the opening portion of her speech stressing her foreign policy bona fides in the wake of the Benazir Bhutto assassination in Pakistan. In discussing her experience, she talked about working “across party lines” in the Senate. “I know how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground,” said Clinton.

As Obama campaign manager David Plouffe acknowledged during a Monday morning conference call, “there is a lot of fluidity in this [Iowa] race right now.” Many polls put the three frontrunners in a statistical dead heat in the state, with perhaps 30 percent of potential caucus-goers still yet to definitively make up their minds. All three are traveling the state in an effort to finish first and garner crucial momentum going into the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary. Second tier candidates Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, and Chris Dodd are also campaigning here, hoping to earn a better-than-expected finish that keeps them in the picture.

The crowds for the three Democratic frontrunners have been big, not to mention generally more enthusiastic than those at Republican events. “There are just lots of tremendously qualified people,” said Nanci Sande, a project manager from Adel. Scott Stricker, a real estate developer who lives in Des Moines, said he is trying to choose between Biden, Clinton, Edwards and Richardson.

“There’s a number of good candidates - more so than I can remember in recent elections,” he said. “That’s why I’m leaning [towards] four [of them]. Normally I’m down to one or two at this point. There have been times when you’re struggling to pick one that you feel really strongly about.”

The campaigns will tell you that doing well in Iowa is about what’s known as “organization” - the ability to make sure you get your voters to their caucuses on a cold night in January. It’s a complex operation that involves volunteers knocking on doors and making phone calls, precinct captains encouraging neighbors to show up, and myriad small activities that they hope will raise turnout for their candidate.

“We’ll shovel your driveway if you need us,” said Clinton’s Iowa communications director, Mark Daley.

You might even say that success in Iowa is as much about logistics as it is about substance. And while all there frontrunners’ campaigns claim to have the strongest organization in the state, the Obama and Clinton campaigns have been quietly signaling their concerns about Edwards’ strength. Edwards took federal matching funds, and he has fewer financial resources than his two chief rivals. More than Clinton and Obama, he is seen as needing the momentum that comes with winning here.

Edwards has consistently stressed that he hasn’t taken money from Washington lobbyists, and he pledged Saturday “that corporate lobbyists or anyone who has lobbied for a foreign government will not be permitted to work in my White House.” But Clinton and Obama staffers have been pointing reporters to an oil industry lobbyist named Scott Tyre, who has raised money for the candidate, and suggesting that Edwards is being hypocritical.

Edwards responds to the charges by saying that all his campaign donations are checked against a federal list of lobbyists. An Edwards aide told the Des Moines Register that Tyre could be seen as a state, not federal, lobbyist, noting that state lobbyists are not kept from donating to Edwards.

Obama, meanwhile, has recently undertaken a unique strategy to win a few extra votes. Under Iowa Democratic Party rules, a candidate has to garner 15 percent support at a caucus; if he doesn’t get it, his supporters must choose someone who did. Obama is now asking voters if they would consider him as their back up candidate. "Make me your second choice, although you are wiser making me your first," he said in Indianola Monday.

All three leading Democrats are also claiming to be the most likely to beat the Republican nominee in a general election. Clinton says she is “tested and ready” to win the election, and her stump speech includes the line that Republicans have “been after me for 16 years. And much to their dismay, I’m still here.” Edwards, Obama and their surrogates, meanwhile, point to polls that they say suggest they are the most electable Democrat.

And while the polls suggest that Clinton, Edwards and Obama will finish in the top three here, there is little consensus on which of them will win, which will place, and which will show on January 3rd. Nicholas Tormey, a psychotherapist from Des Moines, said Sunday he is leaning towards Edwards and Obama. How, he was asked, will he choose between the two?

“That’s a good question,” said Tormey, laughing. “I’ll tell you caucus night.”

[alanrobisch]

You Nazi''''s are sad, very sad. Of course what you posted is a pathetic LIE but what difference does that make to you... the Power of the PARTY must be maintained so distorting and lying is okay, Bush PROVES that. When you have given this nation the WORST in it''''s history then accuse OTHERS of doing something just to make the most INCOMPETENT leader in our history look bad, I''''d say you have pretty much sunken to the level of the Nazi Youth so to you I say! SIEG HEIL MEIN FUHRER!!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by MCVet at 07:28 AM : Jan 02, 2008
+ report abuse

You are a total Jerk!!!

[mcharlton]

I guess when you have no substance, all you have left is style. I guess the gay guy on "Extreem Makeover" could make a good president based on that criteria. The White House decorations would never clash. I''m not looking to elect a gay interior decorator for president! I want a leader!

The democratic party is a joke. All they seem to do is attack nowadays. I can''t understand why we continue to elect these idiots. No one has come up with a viable direction that doesn''t include tax increases and social healthcare. Last I checked, we were a capitalist country.

[leemiller38]

Such intelligent comments and great name calling and political labeling on this blog. No wonder our electorate isn''t smart enough to not elect an incompetent like Bush.

[leemiller38]

Such intelligent commentaries-great political labeling and namecalling on this blog. If the electorate isn''t smarter than this, no wonder we elect incompetents like Bush.

[mcvet]

I get a kick out of the democratic supporters who demonstrate the following
1. A world view that says the America it the cause of world problems.
2. Want to give people to use bombs and beheadings the same moral value as US soldiers.
3. Believe that my money is theirs to spend on creating voting blocks to keep in power.
4. Believe that defeat in Iraq is good for them because it will make Bush look bad.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by steam10 at 02:13 AM : Jan 02, 2008
+ report abuse

You Nazi''s are sad, very sad. Of course what you posted is a pathetic LIE but what difference does that make to you... the Power of the PARTY must be maintained so distorting and lying is okay, Bush PROVES that. When you have given this nation the WORST in it''s history then accuse OTHERS of doing something just to make the most INCOMPETENT leader in our history look bad, I''d say you have pretty much sunken to the level of the Nazi Youth so to you I say! SIEG HEIL MEIN FUHRER!!

[mcvet]

This socialist bunch believes Government is the answer.

Government is the problem. People are the solution.

hillary with her millions little gifts under the tree that America can not afford.

Even France is rejecting the type of socialism these three are advocating.

Edwards wants Iran and Syria to take over Iraq! Are you serious? Think about that for two seconds. Iran. Our good friends. Hostages?? HELLLOOOOO!!!

We live in a world far too serious for these ineffective senators who have never led anything more than an office staff.

We need a real executive.

America needs Mitt.

Posted by apolloknowsa at 03:13 AM : Jan 02, 2008
+ report abuse


That''s all you fascist have and all you''ve ever had. It doesn''t matter that we have just gone through the WORST Administration in our history. It doesn''t matter that the hatred for neighbor and fellow citizen has been used to put people in power who have failed us... NONE of that matters, it''s all about the PARTY and protecting the power of the Party isn''t it? The same line used by this low life creature was used by Hitler and the Third Reich to deprive Germany of their choice''s as well... It was used to stop change and the will of the people of Germany. Let us NOT follow those poor folks into history. Sieg Heil Bush!!!

[juwboy]

Which candidates are Freemasons?

Why are there mystical Masonic symbols on our dollar bills?

How many past Presidents were Freemasons and how did affect their policy/decision-making?

[apolloknowsa]

You are correct...they are all socialists, more in tune with the national socialist party believing that the government knows best, that the government should control what you eat, where you go, how you live, what you should do with the money earned with your labor, and definitely would try hard to eliminate private property.

Bye bye freedom bye bye America.

This socialist bunch believes Government is the answer.

Government is the problem. People are the solution.

hillary with her millions little gifts under the tree that America can not afford.

Even France is rejecting the type of socialism these three are advocating.

Edwards wants Iran and Syria to take over Iraq! Are you serious? Think about that for two seconds. Iran. Our good friends. Hostages?? HELLLOOOOO!!!

We live in a world far too serious for these ineffective senators who have never led anything more than an office staff.

We need a real executive.

America needs Mitt.

[steam10-2009]

I get a kick out of the democratic supporters who demonstrate the following
1. A world view that says the America it the cause of world problems.
2. Want to give people to use bombs and beheadings the same moral value as US soldiers.
3. Believe that my money is theirs to spend on creating voting blocks to keep in power.
4. Believe that defeat in Iraq is good for them because it will make Bush look bad.

[brianbwb-2009]

It is good that the Republicans have basically lied stolen, and cheated their way out of contention. What is not good is that none of the Democrats are demanding accountability and personal responsibility.

This fear of the radical right is the mistake the Democrats keep making, each election cycle they lean ever further to the right, ever farther from their traditional base, but then are rejected by their new target, as the radical right wants the real thing, a new Hitler, not an imitation. It has cost elections before, and unless they wise up, will cost them again.

[zootallures2]

Mike Gravel.

[hhkeller]

Wonder if George Bush and his Republican cronies can fix the election and wreck the country even more than they have. Perhaps Jesus Huckabee for Flip Romney will brand America a christian autocracy.

[dinslc]

Is CBS gonna cover Hillary''s Pakistan gaffe?

She doesn''t even know who''s running.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/Clinton_errs_on_Pakistan_.html

Eesh.

[rowdytexan2]

Posted by JAMurphy4 at 06:38 PM : Jan 01, 2008

Bingo!

10-51, rofl

[jamurphy4]

tuckerndfw ..

There''s an old saying.. "Don''t argue with a Fool, because people won''t know which is which"..

SOOOO! I wont Argue with you..

[rowdytexan2]

jamurphy4 don''t let these guys get you down. It probably doesn''t matter which female was running for president, they''d still be beating their chests and exercising their insecurities.

The Clinton''s are the most investigated two people in the country...and these guys still try to wag that old dog''s tail.

They''re doing the Neocons a huge favor trying to discredit her.

[jamurphy4]

jack3213 .. You are the naive one..

Your probably not even in my decade sonny boy, and just vote Republican because that''s what your mommy & daddy did.. You might wanna look at the facts.. We have a loser leading our Country, and it''s fools like you that put them their.. Your just afraid to have a women incharge.. You smell of that "Bubba" Intelligence.. The Women of this Nation will speak up big-time in this Election, and They are the ones that will put Hillary in the White House.. You''ll just have to live with that..

[alanrobisch]

I presume you have spoken with uneducated Evangelicals in Illinois who would rather have another lying Neocon for president, such as Rommel or Huckaboo. Or maybe you spoke with the white trash racists in Southern Illinois, or the racists that farm and live off of government welfare subsidies? Of course your entire peer group is against men like Obama, because he threatens your love for Corporate America, or your liove for Israel over America?

I''m glad to see you have a balanced point of view. Are you simply anti-republican or simply enjoy attacking people. Neither romney or Huckabee have anything to do with with the neocons whatever they are. It seems a catch phrase to attack whoever you dislike sort of like calling someone a liberal or is it a progressive. what do people such as yourself call people on the loony left.

Ps Try taking spelling lessons its huckabee and Romney

[jack3213]

Jamurphy4_ Don''t be terribly surprised when your prediction goes horribly wrong. There are far more people against her than for her. She is a LIAR and when you accept this you will be much better off. Sorry for your pain, ahead of time, but the illusion you carry that she is has experiance is in direct proportion to your need to be taken care of, which she will never do. Time to wake up and be an adult.

[prairiefox1]

If Obama is going to make changes then why didn''''t he do so in the senate? Oh! thats right! He wasn''''t there! read on!
Senator Obama doesn%u2019t HAVE a record. At least not much of one in the Senate. He
is among the overall leaders in Senators who miss votes. Of the last 60
opportunities to participate in making the laws of the land, the Senator has voted
only 6 times. Forget HOW he voted. His recent record shows a 10% interest in the
job the people of Illinois hired him for. (Voting records available on the Senate
web site or the Washington Post.)
Granted he is a good speaker and has a good personality, but I do hope this nation
doesn''''t elect someone on that basis!
Let us look at his record and at its best it is pitiful! I will vote for a person that has
the best past record! with that you will know how he will be if elected!
I have talked to people in Illinois and they do not think much of him! and Illinois
will never re elect him to the Senate!
So that means if he doesn''''t get to be President then he is just unemployed!
and with a job reference that he has he will be lucky to get on at McDonalds!
So with that information which can be verified, just what kind of person would
vote for him?