Obama Cautiously Optimistic
DES MOINES, IOWA -- Although Obama is leading in the latest Des Moines Register poll, he remains cautiously optimistic about winning the Iowa caucuses.
At a New Year's Day event in Des Moines this morning, stopped short of declaring himself the winner of the Iowa caucus. "Ten months later, we stand on the brink of doing something very special here in Iowa," he told a large crowd.
Obama's speech was laced with words like "might", "if", and, his favorite, "hope".
However, he told the crowd that hope and the polls are not enough to win.
"The only thing that counts is whether or not you show up to caucus. The only thing that counts is whether over the next 72 hours, you're willing to work for this and make the phone calls and knock on the doors and grab your friends and grab your neighbors and say it is time for us to deliver on change. That's the only thing, that's the only poll that we're paying attention to is Thursday. The poll at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock on caucus night."
Obama brought his secret weapon to the campaign trail this morning - his family.
"I want you to all, first of all, know that these are the stars of the Obama family," he said, "I am last on the scales of stardom."