Subject: HRC IA Clips 12.24.07
From: "Christopher Chase" <[email-masked]>
To: "Christopher Chase" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2007 07:14:16 -0500

HRC Iowa Campaign Clips

Monday, December 24, 2007

 

I. MUST READS <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#MustReads> 

BEAUMONT

Clinton, Obama continue their duel, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/712240312 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/712240312> 

Clintons squeeze in pre-holiday politics in Iowa, Des Moines Register, 12-23

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71223007/1001 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71223007/1001>  

CLAYWORTH

Obama again questions Edwards on lobbyists, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71223003/1001 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71223003/1001>  

GLOVER

Obama focuses on Edwards' track record, trade issues, Marshalltown Times Republican, 12-23

http://www.timesrepublican.com/page/content.detail/id/500874.html?nav=5005 <http://www.timesrepublican.com/page/content.detail/id/500874.html?nav=5005>  

MISC./OF NOTE <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#MISC> 

Editorial: Time to decide, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

http://www.thehawkeye.com/column/Edit_122307 <http://www.thehawkeye.com/column/Edit_122307>  

II. CLIPS <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#CLIPS> 

HRC <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#HRC> 

Clinton Pledges Support to Veterans, CR Gazette/QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24//ap/politics/d8tngkho0.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/ap/politics/d8tngkho0.txt> 

Clintons attend church, hit campaign trail, Mason City Globe Gazette, 12-24

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/12/24/state/doc476f2c030684c233942840.txt <http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/12/24/state/doc476f2c030684c233942840.txt>  

Bill Clinton to Campaign for Hillary in Iowa, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS01/712240320/1079 <http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS01/712240320/1079>  

Clinton pledges support to veterans during pre-holiday appearance, AP/Iowa Politics, 12-23

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_VETERANS_IAOL-?SITE=IAIOP&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT <http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLINTON_VETERANS_IAOL-?SITE=IAIOP&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT>  

Former President, Sen. Clinton make stops in Waterloo, NE Iowa, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/news/metro/6fdce88fde223c63862573b9007feab5.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/news/metro/6fdce88fde223c63862573b9007feab5.txt>  

Bill Clinton calls Hillary "agent of change", Boone News Republican, 12-23

http://www.midiowanews.com/site/tab3.cfm?newsid=19139203&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554434&rfi=6 <http://www.midiowanews.com/site/tab3.cfm?newsid=19139203&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554434&rfi=6>  

LTE: ClintonEdwards a winning combo, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230317/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230317/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Clinton is a step in right direction, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230312/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230312/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Same old, same old, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230316/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230316/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Support Clinton, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/c2adaf0929d2b1e1862573b7006a77a8.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/c2adaf0929d2b1e1862573b7006a77a8.txt>  

LTE: Support Clinton, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/4ee5942472b51f6d862573b7006a8a47.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/4ee5942472b51f6d862573b7006a8a47.txt>  

BIDEN

Biden picks up Cohoon endorsement, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/vote_roundup_122307 <http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/vote_roundup_122307>  

DODD <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#DODD> 

            LTE: Dodd worked to protect freedom, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240301/1018/OPINION <http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240301/1018/OPINION>  

LTE: Caucus for Dodd, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Deb_Bowen_112307 <http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Deb_Bowen_112307>  

EDWARDS <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#EDWARDS> 

LTE: Edwards has workable plan, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240302/1018/OPINION <http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240302/1018/OPINION>  

Edwards calls for economic cushion, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Vote_Edwards_Economy_122307 <http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Vote_Edwards_Economy_122307>  

LTE: Support Edwards, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/cc1e5988cefc380e862573b7006aaf58.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/cc1e5988cefc380e862573b7006aaf58.txt>  

LTE: Edwards heads above the pack, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184670 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184670>  

LTE: Support Edwards, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19137036&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6 <http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19137036&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6>  

Blog Post: Edwards Rally: Iowans Still Shopping Around, 12-23 http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1712 <http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1712>  

Blog Post: Video: Meet James Lowe, Iowa Independent, 12-23

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1710 <http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1710>  

Blog Post: Edwards claims drawl as an asset, Des Moines Register, 12-23

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPostId=Blog%3a0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1dPost%3a15739a0c-1bb1-408b-9ba5-483e1c5036e0&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPostId=Blog%3a0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1dPost%3a15739a0c-1bb1-408b-9ba5-483e1c5036e0&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest>  

OBAMA <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#OBAMA> 

Obama says he'd ban dangerous toys from China, CR Gazette, 12-24

http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-            script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071            224/crb_24morfm002.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Ga           zette&pageNum=B02# <http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/crb_24morfm002.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=B02> 

Obama rushes to wrap up support, Omaha World Herald, 12-24

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10216539 <http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10216539>  

Obama Wants Better Toy Testing, KCCI/Iowa Politics, 12-23

http://www.kcci.com/politics/14916854/detail.html <http://www.kcci.com/politics/14916854/detail.html>  

Iowa: Obama focuses on Edwards' track record, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184792 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184792>  

LTE: Support Obama, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/f7cddc360bdc16c4862573b7006ac17c.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/opinions/letters_to_editor/f7cddc360bdc16c4862573b7006ac17c.txt>  

LTE: Support Obama, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23 

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19137045&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6 <http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19137045&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555110&rfi=6>  

Blog Post: Video: Iowa Son Has Political Dream, Iowa Independent, 12-23

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1713 <http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=C95F6D55CA4927452FAA5B3A4678F3C7?diaryId=1713>  

Blog Post: Rep. Ford reverses decision and endorses Obama, Des Moines Register, 12-23

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPostId=Blog%3a0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1dPost%3a269f2bd5-dccd-4fdb-8035-0a7aa185bd52&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1d&plckPostId=Blog%3a0c5cd9bc447140cb9acb4966e5e98b1dPost%3a269f2bd5-dccd-4fdb-8035-0a7aa185bd52&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest>  

RICHARDSON <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#RICHARDSON> 

            LTE: Choose Richardson; forgo Clinton's divisiveness, Des Moines Register, 12-24

            http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712    230318/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230318/1038/OPINION> 

GOP <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#GOP> 

Giuliani: His shifting stances leave some voters confused about his political philosophy, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS/712240329 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS/712240329> 

Giuliani's Loss Set Stage for Success, AP/QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24//ap/politics/d8tnmju80.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/ap/politics/d8tnmju80.txt> 

Rivals Liken Huckabee to Bill Clinton, AP/CR Gazette/QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24//ap/politics/d8tnd8t83.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/ap/politics/d8tnd8t83.txt> 

Presidential Profiles: GOP's long shots hope to catch fire, AP/Omaha World Herald, 12-24

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10216452 <http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10216452>  

Giuliani's Loss Set Stage for Success, AP/Omaha World Herald, 12-24

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1000&u_sid=10216773 <http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1000&u_sid=10216773>  

Analysis: Can Thompson's late effort pay off?, Des Moines Register, 12-23

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71222023/1001 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/71222023/1001>  

Immigration reform is Tancredo's legacy, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184732 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184732>  

Iowa: Huckabee calls for stronger military, families, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184793 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184793>  

Huckabee makes Bluffs stop, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19139665&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555106&rfi=6 <http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19139665&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555106&rfi=6>  

LTE: John McCain is the right choice, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230320/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230320/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Why would religious people align themselves with GOP?, QC Times, 12-24

http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/cra_24morfm004.pdf.0/&section=%20%20%20%20%20Opinion&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=A04# <http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/cra_24morfm004.pdf.0/&section=%20%20%20%20%20Opinion&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=A04> 

LTE: 'Blessed are the poor', QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476f48e6ebd47097972380.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476f48e6ebd47097972380.txt> 

LTE: McCain has credentials, proven performance, QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476b5f9906946602038261.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476b5f9906946602038261.txt> 

            LTE: Thompson carries the mantle of Reagan, QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476b5f5d9dea7797133895.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476b5f5d9dea7797133895.txt> 

Blog Post: Fred Thompson's "Hands Down" thing, Radio Iowa, 12-23

http://learfield.typepad.com/radioiowa/2007/12/fred-thompsons.html <http://learfield.typepad.com/radioiowa/2007/12/fred-thompsons.html>  

Blog Post: Fred Thompson Tries to Stay Alive in Iowa, 12-23

http://commoniowan.blogspot.com/2007/12/fred-thompson-tries-to-stay-alive-in.html <http://commoniowan.blogspot.com/2007/12/fred-thompson-tries-to-stay-alive-in.html>  

THE FIELD <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#THEFIELD> 

Rights vs. security: Candidates take stance, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/7           12240320 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/712240320> 

Campaigns' busy out-of-staters stick close to Iowa, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/71224    0319 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/712240319> 

Caucus no predictor in primary to follow, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/71224    0314 <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/NEWS09/712240314> 

Des Moines mayor tired of ethanol plant wait, CR Gazette, 12-24

http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-            script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071            224/crb_24morfp005.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Ga            zette&pageNum=B05# <http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/crb_24morfp005.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=B05> 

Maytag closure top Iowa story, CR Gazette, 12-24

http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-            script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/c            rb_24morfp005.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Gazette&pag     eNum=B05# <http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/crb_24morfp005.pdf.0/&section=B%3A%20Iowa%20Today&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=B05> 

Candidates try not to wear out their welcome, Omaha World Herald, 12-24

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10215984 <http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2835&u_sid=10215984>  

Presidential candidate pick: Iowans preparing for Jan. 3 caucuses, Quad Cities Online

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=367561 <http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=367561>  

Obama says Edwards is putting up with the very campaign tactics he decries, Quad Cities Online, 12-23 

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=367658 <http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=367658> 

Campaigns exploit all electronic channels, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/vote_Campaign_122307 <http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/vote_Campaign_122307>  

The caucuses are almost upon us, Ft. Dodge Messenger, 12-23

http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/501992.html?nav=5010 <http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/501992.html?nav=5010>  

Caucus helpers, The Ames Tribune, 12-23

http://www.midiowanews.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=19139919&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554432&rfi=6 <http://www.midiowanews.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=19139919&BRD=2700&PAG=461&dept_id=554432&rfi=6>  

LTE: We need more than a manager - we need a leader, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230315/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230315/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Let the voters, not the media, pick candidates, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230313/1038/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/OPINION04/712230313/1038/OPINION> 

LTE: Republican or Democrat won't bring change, CR Gazette, 12-24

http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/cra_24morfm004.pdf.0/&section=%20%20%20%20%20Opinion&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=A04# <http://cedarrapidsgazette.ia.newsmemory.com/eebrowser/frame/3_0f.ver/php-script/fullpage.php?pSetup=cedarrapidsgazette&file=0@/cedarrapidsgazette/20071224/cra_24morfm004.pdf.0/&section=%20%20%20%20%20Opinion&edition=The%20Gazette&pageNum=A04> 

LTE: Politics misses real Christian principles, QC Times, 12-24

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476f497365cdb320152831.txt <http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/letters/doc476f497365cdb320152831.txt> 

Blog Post: Wayne Ford Endorsement Gives Obama Legislative Lead, John Deeth, 12-23

http://jdeeth.blogspot.com/2007/12/with-sundays-endorsement-from-rep.html <http://jdeeth.blogspot.com/2007/12/with-sundays-endorsement-from-rep.html>  

III. Op-Eds and Editorials <https://webmail.hillaryclinton.com/exchange/ChristopherChase/Drafts/?Cmd=new#OpEds>  

Iowa's caucus tale: 'Twas our plight before Christmas, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION01/712240309/1036/Opinion <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION01/712240309/1036/Opinion> 

Ex-officials of both parties ask: Please don't use religion as wedge, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION01/712240310/1036/Opinion <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION01/712240310/1036/Opinion> 

Establish reliable funding for outdoors, Des Moines Register, 12-24

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION03/712240311/1035/OPINION <http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION03/712240311/1035/OPINION> 

Richardson: America needs a new direction in agriculture, Sioux City Journal, 12-24

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/11/30/news_opinion/other_voices/ae7d95be8c71ca85862573a20078e297.txt <http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/11/30/news_opinion/other_voices/ae7d95be8c71ca85862573a20078e297.txt>  

Columnist: A guy named Mitt should know more about baseball, Sioux City Journal, 12-24

http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/06/news_opinion/dave_yoder/9f8101daee127d67862573a9001a9a21.txt <http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/06/news_opinion/dave_yoder/9f8101daee127d67862573a9001a9a21.txt>  

Columnist: GOP campaign is in flux (The People's Business), Mason City Globe Gazette, 12-24

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/doc476f3278c5a4e339526470.txt <http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/12/24/opinion/doc476f3278c5a4e339526470.txt>  

Op-Ed: Edwards asks tough questions, Iowa City Press-Citizen

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240303/1018&template=printart <http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION05/712240303/1018&template=printart>  

Op-Ed: Our View - Apologies don't cut it for smears against Obama, Iowa City Press Citizen, 12-24

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION03/712240305/1018&GID=4hKOZ5nrStCfU+8ZxgKurQFHV+t0Z5uhnfIzw/u3bqQ%3D <http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/OPINION03/712240305/1018&GID=4hKOZ5nrStCfU+8ZxgKurQFHV+t0Z5uhnfIzw/u3bqQ%3D>  

Columnist: Get ready for GOP surprise on caucus night, WCF Courier, 12-23

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/columnists/eby/870ede5e1f9c1061862573b800726214.txt <http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/12/23/columnists/eby/870ede5e1f9c1061862573b800726214.txt>  

Columnist: Obama's new stump speech electrifying, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184807 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184807>  

Columnist: Democrats have little to show for running Congress, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184808 <http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=184808>  

Full Text of Articles

I. MUST READS

BEAUMONT

Clinton, Obama continue their duel, Des Moines Register, 12-24

By THOMAS BEAUMONT

Marshalltown, Ia. - Two of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, campaigning Sunday right up to the edge of a holiday timeout from politics, hardly curbed the contrasts they have been drawing with each other.

Their tone was not notably softer than recent days, evidence of what's at stake for Democrats in next month's Iowa precinct caucuses.

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton made the subtle criticism she has been making of her chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, at a Waterloo church as she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, stumped across snow-swept eastern Iowa.

"I will always do my very best to make the kind of changes that will really give people not just hope, but results," Clinton said at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church.

Clinton also told more than 300 people at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, "Some people think you get change by hoping for it."

The lines refer to the "hope" in Obama's campaign slogan.

Meanwhile, Obama, who campaigned in central Iowa, did not shy away from the distinctions he has made as Iowa's leadoff nominating caucuses have closed in. The caucuses will be held two days after New Year's Day, prompting some candidates to risk campaigning as many Iowans begin holiday festivities.

"We are not just going to run the same old conventional Washington textbook campaigns. The same old campaign just won't do," Obama said in Greenfield. "Telling the American people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear just won't do."

The comments were subtle references to Clinton, whom Obama has accused of being calculating and at times evasive in her answers about issues such as Social Security.

Obama also took aim at Clinton during his appearance via satellite from Iowa on CBS's "Face the Nation," where he said she "tends to galvanize the other side."

Clinton and Obama also touted policy proposals with less politically charged themes. Clinton rolled out a plan to encourage adoption that includes making permanent a tax credit for adoption costs. Obama's proposal was aimed at curbing the importation of toys coated with lead-based paint, a concern for parents buying gifts this season.

Former President Clinton campaigned separately from his wife after their church appearance, with stops in Shell Rock and Charles City.

Mother Nature curtailed some of the Clintons' campaigning. The senator was to cap the day with an event in Dubuque, and the former president was slated to stop in Decorah, but the weather scotched both appearances.

Clintons squeeze in pre-holiday politics in Iowa, Des Moines Register, 12-23

By THOMAS BEAUMONT

Waterloo, Ia.  Poor weather kept Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's final pre-holiday push through Iowa from starting on time today.

It did not stop the New York senator from squeezing politics into every stop on her last day of campaigning before a 48-hour Christmas hiatus before the Jan. 3 nominating caucuses.

Sen. Clinton and her husband former President Bill Clinton arrived an hour late for services at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist church in Waterloo, delayed by the winter storm that left Iowa Sunday morning but complicated travel from New York, where they began the day.

Once they reached the church, politics didn't stop at the pulpit.

"I will always do my very best to make the kind of changes that will really give people, not just hope, but results," Clinton told the congregation.

The line is a standard part of Clinton's stump speech and a reference to her chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign slogan is "Hope".

Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards have been in a tight three-way battle for the lead heading into the caucuses, now 11 days away.

There were empty seats in the new church on Waterloo's east side, a product of the drifting snow and bitter wind outside. However, a row of a dozen television and still photographers lined the church's back wall.

The former president also did not shy away from making a pitch, which tied the looming presidential caucuses with the holiday.

"Day after tomorrow we will give, but every day for 36 years she has given," he said. "I believe and if you will make her the next president and she will be a giver to the country and the world and she will make us proud."

Sen. Clinton planned to campaign in Marshalltown and Dubuque today, while the former president planned to make stops in Shell Rock, Charles City and Decorah, doubling the campaign's exposure before the campaign goes quiet for 48 hours.

 

Sen. Clinton planned to promote an adoption proposal, keeping the policy emphasis on children and families as the campaign brushed up against Christmas.

Included in the proposal was a provision to make permanent a tax credit for adoptive families.

The tax credit, scheduled to expire in 2010, provides $10,960 to cover costs of adoption.

CLAYWORTH

Obama again questions Edwards on lobbyists, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Greenfield, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama again took a swipe Sunday at rival John Edwards, questioning how the former North Carolina senator could curb the power of lobbyists as president when he has had trouble doing it in his own campaign.

Edwards' staff responded by saying that the Illinois senator's statements were a ploy aimed at trying to slow down Edwards' momentum.

The critical statements from Obama came in response to questions he answered shortly before a campaign stop at Nodaway Valley High School in Greenfield. The power of lobbyists has recently become a sparring point between the two candidates.

Obama said Saturday that Edwards benefits from ads from two 527 groups - tax-exempt special-interest groups, named for the part of the tax code under which they are organized - while saying such groups should be banned. He also noted that Edwards' former campaign manager works with one of the groups.

"My attitude is that if you can't get your former campaign manager and political director to do what you'd like, then it's going to be hard to get the insurance companies and drug companies to do what you want," Obama said Sunday.

Edwards, like Obama, has for months hammered at the need to increase transparency in campaign financing and limit the role of corporations and lobbyists. On Saturday, Edwards issued a statement encouraging all 527s "to stay out of the political process."

Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, director of Edwards' Iowa campaign, said it is no coincidence that Obama "is resorting to harsh attacks." Such remarks "can't hide the fact that for John Edwards, refusing PAC and Washington lobbyist money wasn't an election-year conversion."

A political action committee and 527 known as "Vote Hope 2008" is endorsing Obama. It accepts donations of up to $5,000 per person and works in a way similar to those pulling for Edwards.

Obama's campaign is not affiliated with the group, and he has said that "it would be hypocrisy if I had anything to do with" such PACs. His staff has for months encouraged people to work directly with his campaign rather than any special-interest organization.

Individuals are allowed to give up to $2,300 to a political campaign, while political action committees are limited to spending no more than $5,000 in support of a candidate. Vote Hope founders have said that restriction does not apply to them because they do not coordinate their spending with Obama's campaign, according to an article published in July by the Boston Globe.

Federal campaign records show that Vote Hope has spent less than $40,000 in support of Obama, his campaign pointed out. Meanwhile, a group associated with the Service Employees International Union has spent $750,000 for TV ads on behalf of Edwards.

GLOVER

Obama focuses on Edwards' track record, trade issues, Marshalltown Times Republican, 12-23

By MIKE GLOVER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks to local residents during a campaign stop, Saturday in Indianola.

OSKALOOSA - Opening his latest presidential campaign swing through Iowa, Democrat Barack Obama singled out rival John Edwards for criticism, arguing that the former North Carolina senator doesn't have a track record to back up the sharply populist themes he sounds on the campaign trail. 

''I've got a track record,'' said Obama. ''I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk. John does not have the same track record.'' 

The Illinois senator and his aides also singled out a new television campaign they said is being launched on Edwards' behalf, accusing him of hypocrisy. 

''John said yesterday, he didn't believe in these 527s, those are these independent groups that raise money with no disclosure, nobody knows who is giving them, he said I don't believe in them,'' said Obama. ''We found out today there's a group buying three-quarters of a million dollars worth of television and the individual running the group used to be John Edwards' campaign manager.'' 

Obama used the occasion to suggest that Edwards is guilty of hypocrisy. 

''You can't say yesterday, you don't believe in it and today three-quarters of a million dollars is being spent for you,'' said Obama. ''You can't just talk the talk. Everybody talks change, but how did they act when it was not convenient, when it's hard.'' 

Campaign aides distributed to reporters a list of television ad buys in six markets covering Iowa totaling $796,610 that were purchased by the Alliance for a New America, which they described a pro-Edwards group. Focusing on Edwards could signal that Obama views him as a greater threat than previously perceived. 

Edwards has generally slightly lagged behind Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in polls of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, although the three-way race is considered tight. 

Obama also extended his criticism to Edwards' single term in the Senate. 

''During six years in the Senate he wasn't passing laws to reduce the power of lobbyists,'' said Obama. He contrasted that with his own role in crafting new ethics legislation. 

Obama was spending his day seeking to focus on trade policy, an issue Edwards has strongly emphasized. 

On the stump and in new television commercials, Obama called for more training and health coverage for workers who find their jobs shipped overseas as well as giving them significantly more time to find another job. 

''We're not going to stop globalization in its track, but what we can do is have a president who's standing up for American farmers and workers,'' said Obama, speaking to about 300 people in a middle school gymnasium. 

Obama also began airing a new commercial in Iowa titled ''Enough'' in which he uses the 30-second spot to vow to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas, giving them instead ''to companies that are investing right here in Iowa.'' 

As the voting season nears, there are signs that voters are beginning to focus on pocketbook economic issues and Obama was responding by seeking to capitalize on the frustration and anger many feel as they watch companies move overseas, leaving workers high and dry. 

''When I'm president we'll give you training before you lose your job if there's a good chance it will get shipped overseas,'' said Obama. ''We'll give you an education account that you can use to retrain.'' 

Also, Obama vowed financial aid for workers who find themselves displaced. 

''We'll help ensure that losing your job doesn't also mean losing health care by giving you some extra money to pay for it,'' said Obama. ''And we'll make sure employers give you an extra month's notice before letting you go - so you have 90 days notice instead of just 60.'' 

Obama said he's formulated his economic policy by holding round table meetings with small groups of voters around the state, where he hears stories of working families. 

''People are working harder and harder just to keep pace,'' said Obama. ''People have lost faith that their leaders can or will do anything about it.''

 

MISC./OF NOTE

Editorial: Time to decide, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

The stakes are incredibly high. The next president of the United States will inherit a seeming endless war in Iraq and a growing divide in this country between the haves and have nots. 

Too many Americans lack access to affordable health care. America's school districts are tethered to a questionable education policy that is No Child Left Behind. We refer to it as too-few-children-allowed-to-excel because it's a one-size-fits-all policy when school districts across the country are vastly different, from district to district, facing unique challenges that the bureaucrats in Washington will never see or completely understand.

They need to be unleashed from those restraints so more resources can be applied to the classroom. 

Most Americans don't fully comprehend the complexities of the immigration problem, instead ceding to the notion that hordes of citizens from Mexico and Central American are sneaking across our border in the dark of night solely to steal our jobs and infect our schools with drugs and gangs.

The nation's economy is headed toward an unstoppable recession, if you believe three former Treasury secretaries. 

The plate will be full for the next occupant of the Oval Office, and it's a job that will have to start even before the inaugural balls are over.

Of the impressive group of Democratic candidates, the one who rises above the others at this moment in the nation's history is New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

We weren't afforded a chance to see up close any of the Republican candidates. They've ignored their party faithful in southeast Iowa. Still, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the most honest and candid, and the Republicans' best chance to work with the Democrats in Congress.

While we don't agree with him on most issues, McCain's vast experience sets him apart from the GOP field. He knows war, and understands the human cost and toll it takes. He'd be the best Republican in the field to inherit what the Bush administration will leave behind.

We met with each of the Democrats, four in our office -- Clinton, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and U.S. Sens. Chris Dodd and Joe Biden -- and had extensive telephone interviews with Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

We were impressed by the depth and experience of Biden and Dodd. Frankly, it's surprising their poll numbers remain in single digits. So, they're banking on what they hope are a large number of undecided Democrats. 

Richardson has perhaps the deepest resume as former U.N. ambassador, energy secretary during the Clinton administration and as a U.S. congressmen. Richardson has many fans in southeast Iowa because of his work while energy secretary to win compensation for former Iowa Army Ammunition Plant workers sickened by exposure to cancer-causing agents.

Former Sen. John Edwards' populist themes resonate in working-class middle America but may ultimately be too divisive and confrontational. 

And we've liked Sen. Barack Obama since his stirring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention catapulted him onto the national stage. He will be president one day. It may be sooner rather than later.

Vetted perhaps more than any woman in history, Clinton demonstrates the resiliency and tenacity needed in a president, especially one who will inherit the challenges the current administration will leave behind.

In person, she's calculated yet personable. On issues, she's not a clone of her husband. She's an independent thinker with progressive ideas.

She promises that the days of secret eavesdropping and violations of other civil liberties ends on inauguration day. She promotes a reasonable approach to ending the war in Iraq and developing peace through partnership in the region. She honed her extensive international experience as first lady, traveling to more than 80 countries.

She finds it "galling" that American tax dollars help fund a first-class health-care plan for the wealthy members of Congress, while 47 million Americans go without access to decent health care. We'll take her word that she'll fix that, and that the wealthiest nation in the world will provide access to health care for those of little or modest means.

She sees the federal government as a partner with states and local schools in ensuring quality education.

Can she win? Polls show a dead heat in Iowa, and there are many undecided Democrats. Still, Democrats in the state would be selecting a proven leader with the skill sets necessary for our next president by caucusing for Hillary Clinton.

II. CLIPS

HRC

Clinton Pledges Support to Veterans, AP/CR Gazette/QC Times, 12-24

By AMY LORENTZEN

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday renewed her pledge to ensure the United States fulfills its obligations to veterans.

At the Iowa Veterans Home in central Iowa, Clinton said she was glad to be there during the holidays _ a time when "we all think about what we're grateful for and where we give to one another.

"Well, no one has given more to our country than our country's veterans," she said. "I believe that when you sign up to serve our country, our country must serve you with the health care, the compensation and the support that you so richly deserve."

Clinton was introduced by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, who has endorsed her. Outside, the streets were covered with snow and ice after a major winter storm hit the Plains states.

Instead of attacking her Democratic rivals, Clinton targeted the Bush administration, which she said has slashed veterans' benefits. She added that she wants to help make up for those mistakes, and said she's already been trying to assist veterans.

"I cannot tell you how many veterans I've had to intervene for, go to bat for, cut the red tape for, who were being denied what was rightfully theirs," she said. "If you are entitled to a benefit, then under our law the president of the United States shouldn't stand in the way, the president should make sure you are given what you have earned and deserve."

Clinton vowed to enact a GI Bill of Rights to expand benefits such as education and housing to service members, veterans and their families.

"We are going to change the attitude, we're going to change the policies, and we're going to have a president who believes that honoring our veterans' service is one of the primary jobs of being the president of the United States," she said.

Clinton said she would bring troops home from Iraq as "quickly and responsibly as we can," and turn more attention to Afghanistan. "We can't forget it any longer. We have got to make sure that we provide the support that is necessary to do the job we should be doing," she said.

Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, responded: "Our troops have already witnessed Senator Clinton vote against their funding while serving on the battlefield. This raises the question: How can voters trust her to take care of our veterans when they return from service?"

During a question and answer session, a man asked Clinton how she'll pay for care for all the veterans returning from Iraq.

"When we end the war in Iraq we are going to have a lot of money," she said. "We're going to use the money that we have been spending on Iraq _ $300 million a day _ and start taking care of our people here at home."

Earlier in the day, Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrived an hour late to church services at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist church in Waterloo, Iowa, because of the weather. Clinton was expected to hold an additional event Sunday evening in Dubuque, Iowa, but while she was speaking at the veterans home she was handed a note saying her next stop was going to be canceled.

"I just got handed a note that another airport has been closed," she said. "You know it's hard to get around right now. ... We'll just have to do the best we can to cover as much ground as possible between now and January 3rd."

Clintons attend church, hit campaign trail, Mason City Globe Gazette, 12-24

By AMIE STEFFEN and JOSH NELSON, For The Globe Gazette

WATERLOO - To the Rev. F. T. Whitfield, the parishioners at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church seemed a bit too distracted during Sunday's service.

As Whitfield preached, he gently scolded them more than once.

"I know we got some important folk here, but y'all say amen," Whitfield said, to a chorus of "amens."

The congregation couldn't be faulted. It's not every Sunday they sit within a few feet of Hillary and Bill Clinton. The former president and current Democratic presidential hopeful attended church in Waterloo before parting ways on a hurry-up holiday schedule of events.

President Clinton later appeared at events in Shell Rock, Charles City and Decorah. Sen. Clinton headed to Marshalltown and Dubuque.

And while Christmas looms just days away, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses are also on the Clintons' minds. During a speech to the congregation, the Clintons incorporated Bible passages into their speeches at Mount Carmel as a reminder of both.

"A Scripture in Romans tells us to be good citizens as well as good followers of the Lord," Bill Clinton said, as a way of reminding people of the caucuses.

Hillary Clinton also touted the importance of the caucus.

"I believe that our country stands on a precipice and we have to decide: Do we take a leap of faith?" she said. "Or will we continue to slowly but surely fall backwards?"

She mentioned that her campaign, like others, would refrain from making phone calls or knocking on doors on Christmas Day. Yet, the Clintons didn't separate the holiday spirit from their time in Iowa. The Rev. Whitfield introduced Bill Clinton first, admiring his red tie.

"I do like neckties, and this is the Christmas season," the Rev. Whitfield said playfully. "President Clinton, I'm not making you do anything, but if you just so decide ..."

The former president eventually did take off his tie and give it to Whitfield, to whoops from the audience.

President Clinton used his time in Shell Rock and Waterloo to highlight his wife's record, stating her experience and track record indicate she's a "proven leader."

He mentioned decisions helping those less fortunate when she graduated law school instead of practicing corporate law as indicative of her willingness to help people.

"Every day, for 36 years that I've known her, she has given," Bill Clinton said to a group of about 80 Waterloo church attendees. "And I believe, if you make her the next president, she will be a giver and she will make you proud."

In Shell Rock, the former president also dismissed claims that Sen. Clinton was a "cold and calculating" figure who would polarize the voting public.

Several of her choices early on, including marrying a man from Arkansas "who's only claim to a political future is he lost his first race for Congress," seemed to call that into question, he said.

"If she was smart enough to calculate that was the path to the presidency, 100 percent of the people ought to vote for her," he said to a crowd of about 300 people.

He also said he never bought the conventional wisdom that Hillary Clinton was a shoo-in for the Democratic nod, though she could win a general election "handily." The current scrutiny Clinton is receiving during her bid may also be a blessing later on, if she is nominated.

"I know what they do in a general election, and I know it's better to have been through the fire and to be a little inoculated," he said.

Clinton is in a neck-and-neck race in Iowa with Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. In New Hampshire, Obama holds a two-point lead on Clinton, 30 to 28 percentage points, according to a Dec. 20 Boston Globe/University of New Hampshire poll. The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Several people at the Shell Rock event agreed with Clinton that the calculating label may not be entirely accurate.

"I don't have any problems supporting her," said Elaina Toenjes, of Shell Rock. "I don't think she's a detriment to the ticket. I think the country is ready for a woman to be president."

But Deb Turnbull of Waverly said she previously thought Clinton came off at times as "cold."

"I think that's just because she was so serious in her commitment," she said.

But lately, caucus-goers have gotten a much more complete picture of her than was previous offered. Both Deb and her sister Donna Turnbull, also of Waverly, were split between Edwards and Clinton, but now they're both leaning toward Clinton come January.

 

Bill Clinton to Campaign for Hillary in Iowa, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

Former president Bill Clinton will return to Iowa to campaign for his wife, Hillary Clinton, starting Wednesday.

The "Big Challenges. Real Solutions -- Time to Pick a President" tour will stop in Solon at 7:45 p.m. at Solon High School, 600 W. Fifth St., as well as Mount Pleasant and Muscatine.

The Mount Pleasant visit also will include Hillary Clinton and former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack and his wife, Christie Vilsack; that event will be at 2:30 p.m. at Mount Pleasant Community High School, 2104 South Grand Ave.

 

Clinton pledges support to veterans during pre-holiday appearance, AP/Iowa Politics, 12-23

By AMY LORENTZEN 

Associated Press Writer

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) -- Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday renewed her pledge to ensure the United States fulfills its obligations to veterans.

At the Iowa Veterans Home in central Iowa, Clinton said she was glad to be there during the holidays - a time when "we all think about what we're grateful for and where we give to one another.

"Well, no one has given more to our country than our country's veterans," she said. "I believe that when you sign up to serve our country, our country must serve you with the health care, the compensation and the support that you so richly deserve."

Clinton was introduced by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, who has endorsed her. Outside, the streets were covered with snow and ice after a major winter storm hit the Plains states.

Instead of attacking her Democratic rivals, Clinton targeted the Bush administration, which she said has slashed veterans' benefits. She added that she wants to help make up for those mistakes, and said she's already been trying to assist veterans.

"I cannot tell you how many veterans I've had to intervene for, go to bat for, cut the red tape for, who were being denied what was rightfully theirs," she said. "If you are entitled to a benefit, then under our law the president of the United States shouldn't stand in the way, the president should make sure you are given what you have earned and deserve."

Clinton vowed to enact a GI Bill of Rights to expand benefits such as education and housing to service members, veterans and their families.

"We are going to change the attitude, we're going to change the policies, and we're going to have a president who believes that honoring our veterans' service is one of the primary jobs of being the president of the United States," she said.

Clinton said she would bring troops home from Iraq as "quickly and responsibly as we can," and turn more attention to Afghanistan. "We can't forget it any longer. We have got to make sure that we provide the support that is necessary to do the job we should be doing," she said.

Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, responded:

"Our troops have already witnessed Sen. Clinton vote against their funding while serving on the battlefield. This raises the question: How can voters trust her to take care of our veterans when they return from service?"

During a question and answer session, a man asked Clinton how she'll pay for care for all the veterans returning from Iraq.

"When we end the war in Iraq we are going to have a lot of money," she said. "We're going to use the money that we have been spending on Iraq - $300 million a day - and start taking care of our people here at home."

Earlier in the day, Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, arrived an hour late to church services at Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist church in Waterloo, Iowa, because of the weather. Clinton was expected to hold an additional event Sunday evening in Dubuque, Iowa, but while she was speaking at the veterans home she was handed a note saying her next stop was going to be canceled.

"I just got handed a note that another airport has been closed," she said. "You know it's hard to get around right now. ... We'll just have to do the best we can to cover as much ground as possible between now and January 3rd."

 

Former President, Sen. Clinton make stops in Waterloo, NE Iowa, WCF Courier, 12-23

WATERLOO --- Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton are planning a series of campaign events in northeast Iowa today.

The Clintons will be in Waterloo to attend church services at Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 805 Adams St., for church service at 11 a.m. From there, Bill Clinton will give an "Organizing for Change" talk at 2 p.m. at the Shell Rock Elementary School, in Shell Rock.

He will also be making a similar speech at 3:45 p.m. at the Lincoln Elementary School in Charles City. The Clintons are expected to stop in Decorah in the evening.

The public is invited to the events in Shell Rock, Decorah and Charles City. 

Bill Clinton calls Hillary "agent of change", Boone News Republican, 12-23

By: MARY CATLETT and SUSAN HILDRETH

Bill Clinton came to Boone Saturday in support of his favorite presidential candidate.   

Bill Clinton came to Boone Saturday to deliver an early Christmas present. 

He wants Iowans to know why he thinks Hillary Clinton is the best candidate for president. 

He was greeted by an often enthusiastic standing room only crowd at the Gigglin' Goat, 628 Story St. 

Potental voters carried everything from cell phones and cameras to kids and coffee. The crowd burst into applause when the former President emerged from the back of the reception hall. He was accompanied by former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack. 

In her introduction Vilsack said she likes to imagine what breakfast at the White House will be like one year from now if "Hillary were to ask Bill, as the former president What would you do in this situation?" And Bill responds, "Well Madame President, what will you do?" 

Vilsack then introduced Hillary's "A number 1 supporter in the United States," former president Clinton. "I wanted to come to Boone," he said. Especially after his wife told him of a place she had been to in Iowa called the Gigglin' Goat. 

Clinton was stumping for Hillary not because he is her husband, he said, but because he thinks she is the best person for the job -- even though as her husband "I have a strong preference," he joked. 

"It's a very different world than when I ran for President in 1990," Clinton said. "When I ran the average cell phone weighed five pounds. Can you believe that?" After a few minutes of warming up the crowd, he got serious saying the world we live in today is "an uncertain and insecure world." 

"We have to be mindful in that we live in a world where we can't get away from each other," Clinton said. For the upcoming election, Clinton said "I like the race as a citizen of America and as a Democrat because I don't have to be against anybody." 

By that, he pointed out that the choices were all strong. "I don't dislike any of them," he said, recounting his experiences with Richardson, Biden, Edwards and Obama. 

Clinton said he wanted to explain the three major points of her campaign: 1) the need to create more jobs, 2) the need to recognize that we live in an interdependent world, despite "unscrupulous leaders" who teach "our differences are all that matter," so the U.S. can be a nation of laws as well as a nation of immigrants, and 3) the need for an energy policy that will address the problems of global warming. 

He emphasized Hillary Clinton's desire to restore America's standing in the world because there's "no problem we can solve alone." 

He also said she has a vision for the future with plans that have "meat on the bone" when it comes to the country leading the world in science and technology, as well as making college more affordable for all. 

"We have got to get control of this country's economic future," he said. The one area where Hillary is conservative, according to Bill, is the budget. 

"If two plus two equals four in Boone, Iowa then it's going to equal four in Washington, too." 

Her health care plan is important because even though their joint attempts failed during the earliest days of his administration, or, as he put it, "We failed. Yes, we did," it is time because "we gotta cover everybody." 

Although the health care issues are complicated, he said Hillary Clinton's plan would offer choices as well as tax credits, and electronic medical records with privacy protection. 

Citing his successful bypass surgery, he sought to drive home another Hillary Clinton lynchpin to her plan, an approach to health care that focused on staying well in the first place. 

He said that health care would be paid for by "allowing tax cuts for people in my income group to expire." 

"We are a can do country until it comes to health care," Clinton said. "Can't do, can't do...I'm tired of hearing it and I'm sure you are too." 

He said Hillary Clinton would completely rewrite the No Child Left Behind act and instead value international levels of excellence, make college more affordable and seek out schools with high achievement records and then pay to put those practices to use. 

Bill Clinton emphasized the need for more than visions and plans but also for someone like his wife, someone who turns "problems into positive change." "She has a history of making change with anyone who's willing," he said, citing her work with Tom DeLay, a Republican in the Senate, with children in Arkansas, and the loyal support of those she's helped or been friends with. 

Clinton continued to talk fondly of his wife saying, "I've never known anybody that I thought made better decisions and changes. 

Hillary is a world class champ at taking something that is a problem and turning it into something positive for people. She is a profoundly good person." 

LTE: Same old, same old, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Imagine that. Three middle-aged white women endorse Hillary Clinton. After Bill Clinton sucked up to your fragile egos, you fell for this "experience" nonsense. Yet you did not mention what this experience is that Clinton brings to the table. What specifically has she accomplished in the past that would make her a good president? Being in Washington and around politics does not make one experienced. Rather, it makes one constrained by the politics of the past.

You chose hype over hope. You chose negativity over positivity. You chose at least four more years of Clintons when one-third of our country has never lived without a Clinton or Bush in the White House.

It's time for change - in Washington and on your editorial board.

- John Meyers, Des Moines

LTE: ClintonEdwards a winning combo, Des Moines Register, 12-24

The Register has endorsed the two major candidates it feels are best for the country and have the greatest capability to govern and lead in the foreign-policy arena. People want change. It does not matter if John McCainRudy Giuliani is the Republicans' ticket; they will not beat a Hillary ClintonJohn Edwards ticket. Edwards is the obvious vice-presidential choice for Clinton to bring in labor and workers.

- Cort Stapleton, Cedar Rapids.

LTE: Clinton is a step in right direction, Des Moines Register, 12-24

As I read the letters on this page, I'm sometimes surprised by the negative tone and anger of those who write about the presidential candidates.

I hope my neighbors will join me in choosing a candidate to caucus for based on experience, vision for the country and ability to make a difference in the lives of Iowans and all Americans.

Hillary Clinton has fought for our families and our neighbors and has dedicated her life to working families. She has worked tirelessly to improve health care and provide all children with health insurance, to create jobs and give workers the choice to form unions, to improve wages and strengthen equal-pay laws, to provide retirement security, to improve educational opportunities for our kids and invest in our future.

Clinton will fulfill our commitments to our veterans and our soldiers at home and abroad by making sure they receive the care and opportunities they deserve. And she will work to end the war in Iraq that has injured and cost the lives of far too many brave men and women.

I hope Iowans will carefully consider their choices on Jan. 3 and help elect a president who will take our nation in a new, positive direction.

- Danny Homan, Des Moines.

LTE: Support Clinton, WCF Courier, 12-23

KAREN WALKER

EVANSDALE --- Support Hillary Clinton for president because of her 35 years of experience, not only in public service as senator of New York and her years as first lady. She also has the support of husband, Bill Clinton, a very wise and successful president.

Hillary Clinton has plans for affordable health care for everyone, including veterans and children, more jobs, eliminating tax breaks for the rich and oil companies, establishing a green, efficient economy, improving the education system, solving the immigration problems and strengthening our ports and borders against terrorism.

Clinton will also preserve American jobs instead of outsourcing overseas and improving quality of life for troops and veterans, and lowering the cost of prescription drugs. Most of all, she wants to bring the troops home as soon as it is possible and end the war.

Most of these are life changing decisions for us. We need the backbone and determination of Clinton, a strong, self-assured person who could handle the presidency with the support of her advisers, members of Congress and most of all, our support at the caucuses Jan. 3. Remember, you're voting for our future.

LTE: Support Clinton, WCF Courier, 12-23

LINDA MARLOW

CEDAR FALLS --- I know I need to elect a candidate who focuses on real solutions and making what is left of my future, my children's future and my children's children's future a positive legacy. Because we all know it takes a village and everyone in it and someone to lead and raise that village to do it once and again and again.

To the ones in the community who are most able. If you will be 18 years of age by Election Day 2008, you must put yourself in the role of caucus-goers and show up and be counted for the candidate of your choice. Do not expect a different future if you are unwilling to show up now. This is the time to create the future you desire and deserve.

Jan. 3, 2008, is caucus day. Caucusing is easy. Of the top 10 reasons I have chosen to support my candidate and friend, Hillary Clinton, my greatest desire is to see the young and the able and the most likely to endure make the greatest difference without making the greater sacrifice, because I know that this too is hers. Your voices are screaming to be heard, your generation is our hope and we are here for you and ready to listen and act on your behalf. 

BIDEN 

Biden picks up Cohoon endorsement, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

The Hawk Eye

 

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., Saturday picked up the endorsement of a 20-year veteran of the Iowa Legislature, Rep. Dennis Cohoon of Burlington.

"And as a high school special education teacher for 30 years, I know Sen. Biden can accomplish the education reforms we need to get kids in preschool earlier and give them the opportunity to go to college," Cohoon said.

***

U.S. Sen. John McCain will bring his presidential campaign to West Burlington Friday.

The GOP hopeful has scheduled a meet-and-greet session at 9 a.m. at the Ivy Bake Shoppe, 309 S. Gear Ave., West Burlington.

DODD

LTE: Dodd worked to protect freedom, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

Recently Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd won a great victory for the U.S. Constitution. Almost single-handedly, he prevented passage of a bill that would have granted blanket immunity to the Bush administration, and some of the largest companies in the nation, for spying on American citizens. We still don't know exactly what they did, but we do know that they took technology and legal authority to spy on foreigners, and abused them by spying on Americans.

This bill was not about spying on terrorists. The FISA Act of 1978 already gave the government broad powers to eavesdrop on suspected spies and terrorists.

These powers were expanded even further by the Patriot Act. The bill that was debated yesterday began as a simple technical fix to clarify how surveillance powers would apply to new technologies, like cell phones. But it became a vehicle for retroactive amnesty for the Bush administration, and its allies who exceeded their authority by eavesdropping on the phone calls and emails of ordinary, law-abiding Americans.

We have been presented with the false choice that we must give up some of our freedoms in order to gain security. But Dodd knows that in the long run, we can only be secure if we defend our freedoms.

The world has always looked to America as the well spring of freedom, and I'm supporting Dodd because he has done the most to protect our freedoms.

Dale Shultz

Iowa City

LTE: Caucus for Dodd, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

Newspapers have a responsibility in the political process and so do Iowa voters -- to examine each presidential candidate's character, integrity and experience-claimed or real. The newspaper helps and sometimes hinders our serious examination of candidates.

 

I expected to read an in-depth story about Christopher Dodd similar to those written about other presidential candidates over the past week. Instead, The Hawk Eye chose to publish a Lightman piece which was an affront to an honorable candidate.

Sen. Dodd is a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and recognized expert on Latin and South America. He's well-respected on both sides of the Senate aisle and has been able to secure Republican co-sponsors for many of his bills, which have become legislation that impact all of us. 

Dodd authored the first federal law to help cities hire, equip and train firefighters and other emergency responders and he wrote the Help America Vote Act, important voting rights legislation. He has been endorsed by International Association of Firefighters due to his enduring support for firefighters long before 9/11. 

Iowans should also know that Sen. Dodd wrote the Family Medical Leave Act -- which was a lifesaver for a young single mother I know who needed extended leave from her job to obtain cancer treatment. For seven years he shepherded this important national legislation through Congress, obtained bipartisan support and it became law.

Dodd is an incredibly intelligent man, thoughtful, knowledgeable, well-spoken, with an extensive resume of experience. He's respectful, a good listener -- and my sense is that he's an honorable man. I have heard him speak at three different visits in Burlington, as well as the Harkin Steak Fry, AARP presidential debate and the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines. 

I've observed how comfortable Sen. Dodd is answering in depth and detail the questions asked at campaign stops. A TV cameraman covering this last Burlington VFW visit was heard to express amazement at the amount of knowledge Dodd is able to communicate in answering every question thrown at him. 

Dodd is so passionate about our Constitution that he has carried a small copy in his pocket for the last 25 years as his reminder of its importance to all Americans. He's also a family man with values which most Iowans have -- love of his family, a passionate belief in education's importance and a strong work ethic.

Our country suffers from political divisiveness, Congressional gridlock and disrespect from numerous other countries. It's imperative we elect a president whom the rest of the world can respect and who can respect Congress' political differences and still get the country's work accomplished: Like getting us out of Iraq, restoring our Constitution, improving our children's education, and preserving Social Security, among others. Though newspapers and television "news" want us to believe the election is all but over, (the most well-financed or well-known candidate wins), I urge you fellow Iowans to exercise your independence and thoughtfully consider Christopher Dodd as your choice for president when you caucus Jan. 3.

DEBORAH BOWEN

Burlington

 

EDWARDS

LTE: Edwards has workable plan, Iowa City Press-Citizen, 12-24

Health care is my key issue in deciding whom to support in the January caucuses. So far, only former Sen. John Edwards has exhibited the type of comprehensive fix for health care that I think we have needed for many years. He was the first candidate to come out with a universal health care plan and remains the only candidate to getting rid of the lobbyists who have prevented change for so long. And most importantly, I believe him when he says we're going to get this done. With Edwards, it goes further than rhetoric. He has presented sensible plans that can be accomplished when we elect him to the White House.

My support for Edwards boils down to a few things. He is committed to solving the health care crisis in America and he has been leading the field on health care. He will be the advocate that I have been looking for in the White House and he has convinced me that he'll fight for me -- not for the big drug companies. He is going to fix America's ailing health care system and I know with him in Washington, he'll do what it takes to get the job done.

Please join me in caucusing for Edwards on Jan. 3.

John Lundell

Coralville

 

Edwards calls for economic cushion, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

By AMY LORENTZEN

 

The Associated Press

LISBON -- Presidential candidate John Edwards said Saturday the country simply can't wait for the economy to turn around, and he wants Congress to come up with as much as $100 billion to prepare for a potential economic slowdown.

The Democrat and former North Carolina senator suggested an initial investment of $25 billion for job creation and other aid, and asked lawmakers to be prepared to come up with the rest if the economy slides into a recession.

Edwards said the economy is struggling because of the housing crisis and stagnant wages. Housing, energy and health care costs have increased, while the median income for working-age families dropped $2,400 between 2000 and 2006, he said.

"I've been concerned for some time that the economic growth in this country is completely concentrated in the top with big corporations and the richest Americans, and middle class families are struggling," Edwards said at a news conference after a stop in eastern Iowa. "We need to stimulate the part of the economy that helps working families."

He didn't propose how to pay for the plan, saying it's his first policy proposal where he hasn't come up with a detailed plan for funding.

"It's a one-time thing, and it's paid for by growing the economy," he said.

Edwards' plan also calls for Congress to update the nation's unemployment system, which he said now leaves workers unprepared for hard times. He called on Congress to help states cover 500,000 additional workers each year, and set aside resources now to keep workers from having to wait for benefits if the unemployment rate rises.

Aid to states also would be boosted under the plan to keep them from having to increase property taxes or cut programs such as Medicaid in order to balance their budgets.

To combat the housing crisis, Edwards wants lawmakers to create a home rescue fund to help families get counseling, loans or other financial aid to avoid foreclosure. He also believes families facing bankruptcy should be allowed to rewrite terms of their mortgage and write off debt that exceeds the value of their home.

To keep such a crisis from happening again, Edwards said Congress should pass stronger laws against predatory lending and create a federal regulator to oversee financial services products.

Edwards wants Congress to make a major investment in clean energy he contends would both fight global warming and create jobs to spark economic activity.

Several of Edwards' economic proposals, including some of his energy and housing proposals, have been included in other policy plans he has offered over the course of the presidential campaign.

However, his proposal that Congress act now to shore up the economy rather than waiting for a new president to be elected is new, his campaign said.

While addressing a crowd of more than 100 at a school in Lisbon, Edwards was told by a woman in the audience that he comes off like a "very angry man with a mission," although she said that reminds her of the 1960s leaders "in a good way." But, she wanted to know where he's willing to be cooperate to get things done.

Edwards assured her his anger is reserved for special interests and greedy corporations, and there are "many arenas I would be diplomatic."

"This fight that I'm talking about is not with politicians." But he added: "If you don't have a president who has the toughness and strength to stand up and fight, then nothing is going to change."

LTE: Support Edwards, WCF Courier, 12-23

ANTHONY TISDALE

WATERLOO --- Democrats have an impressive lineup of presidential candidates to choose from, but we've somehow forgotten that there are major differences between these candidates.

These differences will come into play in the general election and cannot be ignored during the primary selection process. We need someone who can win, who can campaign in southern states, and someone who will not only talk about change but also bring about the change that our country so desperately needs --- true universal health care, a real exit strategy for Iraq, a complete overhaul of No Child Left Behind and a stop to all negotiations and underhanded dealings with special interest groups and lobbyists.

We need a candidate who will bring Democrats together instead of polarizing us. A Democratic nominee who cannot campaign for House and Senate candidates is not helpful to our party, and it's time for people to wake up and realize who the best man for the job really is.

I've heard Sen. John Edwards speak, and I've experienced his sincerity and honesty. He is a candidate who can help Democrats win in all 50 states. He will unite our party, give people like me a voice, and stand up to the corruption in Washington that has put us in the position we are in today. You will not find a more committed or genuine individual who not only has real ideas, but also real ways to implement those ideas than Sen. Edwards --- and it's so convenient that he happens to be the most electable of all the primary candidates.

LTE: Edwards heads above the pack, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

From Jeffrey Cue 12675 Brentwood Court

The Des Moines Register debate is typically the most important test to help caucus-goers decide who we should support come caucus time. As I watched it on Dec. 13, one candidate stood apart from the crowded field, reminding me what exactly is at stake Jan. 3.

For decades, special interests and lobbyists have dominated Washington, putting the profits of multi-national corporations ahead of working Americans. John Edwards is the only candidate committed to standing up and fighting for America's middle class. He's right when he said they're not going to give up their power unless we take it from them. We need universal health care. We need to end bad trade deals like NAFTA, and we need to take the tax burden off the middle class. John Edwards is the only candidate with plans to do just that and, more importantly, the strength to get the job done.

Supporting John Edwards for president is the first step in taking back our country.

 

LTE: Support Edwards, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23

If only we could vote for John Edwards as Democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential election. His progressive vision for America is a clear departure from the morally corrupt political one that is wrecking our country. But you see we live in Montana, the last state to hold a democratic presidential primary. The truth is that your state and a few others who choose first will determine the presidential nominees. 

 

We are betting that your readers, like us, want someone truly dedicated to resolving our health insurance crisis, stopping the misuse of our armed forces, building a "green" energy economy, working arduously for peace, and restoring the world-wide esteem that America once had. John would fight the rich lobbyists and help us take back our country. 

From the Rockies, all we can do is plead. Citizens, please vote for John Edwards for us - for all of us!

Dusti and Tony Povilitis, Bozeman, Mont. 

Blog Post: Edwards Rally: Iowans Still Shopping Around, 12-23

by: T.M. Lindsey 

Sunday (12/23) at 11:20 AM 

With only 13 shopping days left until the Iowa Caucuses, a number of voters were out shopping for the candidate they want to caucus for Jan. 3. This was the case for some of the attendees at former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards' campaign rally at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Coralville Saturday.

Kathleen Hession, an Iowa City resident, who recently returned from London where she had just completed a semester abroad, said she just started looking for a candidate. "I'm still undecided, and I have a lot of catching up to do," Hession told the Iowa Independent after the rally. "One thing I do know is that I'm definitely leaning Democrat. I'm decidedly Democratic."

Meanwhile, some of the attendees were out window shopping, including Brett Johnson, a recent UI graduate in International Affairs. "I'm supporting Chris Dodd, because I think he has the best platform on foreign policy," Johnson told the Iowa Independent after the rally. "I came to see Edwards out of curiosity. I'm checking out the big three Democratic candidates (Obama, Edwards, Hillary) to see which one I'll caucus for, just in case Dodd isn't viable in my precinct. Edwards is the first one of the big three I've had a chance to catch so far."

Speaking of Edwards, he has clearly shifted gears into rally mode for the final push of the campaign in Iowa. Over 150 people crammed into a long, narrow conference room to hear Edwards speak. Due to inclement weather, Edwards was running late, which only exacerbated the claustrophobic conditions. 

T.M. Lindsey :: Edwards Rally: Iowans Still Shopping Around  

Thirty minutes later, Edwards took the stage and preached his populist agenda from the stage's makeshift pulpit, vowing to stand up and take on the lobbyists and fight for people who are struggling to live the American Dream. "Corporate greed is destroying the middle class, robbing us of jobs, and robbing your children of their future," Edwards said.

Edwards called upon the audience to take responsibility and fight the powers of corporate greed. "Are we going to stand quietly by and let this happen, or are we going to do something about this?" Edwards asked. "The easiest thing to do is to turn your head and say there is nothing we can do about this. If you're willing to do that, you better be willing to look your children in the eye and tell them you're going to leave this mess for them."

Edwards reminded people that the fight against corporate greed was not going to be easy. "We have an epic fight on our hands. I do not believe you can sit at a table with drug companies and health insurance lobbyists, take their money and make a deal with them," Edwards argued. "If that worked, we would have had universal health care years ago. They're not going to voluntarily give their power away. The only way they give their power away is if we take their power away from them."

Towards the end of his speech, Edwards slipped into full populist mode, rallying the crowd to rise up and take a stand for America. "Every time we speak up for the millions of forgotten people living in the darkness, America rises. Every time we speak up for 47 million people who don't have health care, every time we speak up and stand up for the 37 million people living in poverty, every time we stand up for the 200,000 homeless veterans who go to sleep every night under bridges, every time we do that, America rises!"

"On a cold night Jan. 3, there is going to be a rising right here in Iowa. You're going to rise up," Edwards shouted over the audience's escalating applause. "You're going to say enough is enough. We're going to take back this Democracy, and there is going to be a wave of change right here in Iowa that sweeps across this country. We're going to build an America that we can believe in, so you can be absolutely certain when you look your children in the eye and tell them we left America better off than we found it."

Both Johnson and Hession were impressed with Edwards' speaking skills and ability to get the crowd fired up. "I realized today's event was more of a rallying cry," said Johnson. "So I didn't get a real sense of his specific stances on issues. I have to admit, he did a great job of getting the crowd revved up."

"I was impressed with Edwards' ability to rally the crowd with his speaking skills," Hession said. "I'm not sure whether I'll support Edwards on caucus night, but it was great to see him getting people excited, and hopefully this will get them to the caucuses. That's what's really important." 

Blog Post: Video: Meet James Lowe, Iowa Independent, 12-23

by: Adam Burke 

Sunday (12/23) at 09:15 AM 

Former North Carolina senator John Edwards has probably mentioned the name "James Lowe" hundreds of times in speeches across the country. Edwards has practically dedicated his presidential campaign to Lowe, repeatedly telling his story as a glaring example of health care problems.  

Lowe was born with a cleft palate and had a simple operation at age fifty that enabled him to finally talk.

Edwards is usually incredulous that James Lowe lived for fifty years without a speaking voice and has frequently illustrated his condemnation of the U.S. health care system with Lowe's story.

Edwards brought Lowe to Iowa to speak on his behalf. He introduced the former coal miner and said "When he told me his story, I sat there listening to it and thinking to myself, 'How long are we going to let drug companies and insurance companies and their lobbyists run this country?' ... James Lowe got his voice back, isn't it time for you to get your voice back?"

 

Lowe praised Edwards and recalled the first time they'd met: "I knew right off, I felt the love and kindness this man here has in his heart for people like me and you all.  And if we want something changed in this world, there's the man to do it."  

A video of James Lowe's speech is below the fold. 

Adam Burke :: Video: Meet James Lowe  

James Lowe was introduced by presidential hopeful John Edwards at a presentation in the Lisbon School library in Lisbon, Iowa.

Both men received sustained applause before Edwards launched into a tirade on the disparities between corporation profits and the incomes of middle and lower class Americans.

Following this event, Edwards responded to questions about a 527 political group run by his former campaign manager Nick Baldick. Baldick now works for Alliance for a New America. 

Blog Post: Edwards claims drawl as an asset, Des Moines Register, 12-23

John Edwards has been pushing the idea that he is the Democratic presidential candidate most likely to beat the Republican nominee next November.

On the stump, the former North Carolina senator refers to a recent CNN poll that found in hypothetical, head-to-head match-ups, he is the only Democrat who topped each leading Republican.

He also claims that he can win rural areas and Southern states, which Republicans have generally held.

 "We do great in urban areas, but how we do in rural areas controls everything," he told a couple of hundred people in the eastern Iowa town of Lisbon Saturday.

Edwards noted that, unlike his main Democratic competitors, he grew up in a small town and in the South. Then he grinned and made  a crack about his trademark drawl. "The last two Democrats who actually got elected president, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both of them talk like I do."

OBAMA

Obama says he'd ban dangerous toys from China, CR Gazette, 12-24

Illinois senator vows stricter trade policies 

  GREENFIELD (AP) - Only two days before Christmas, Democrat Barack Obama on Sunday focused on his drive to protect youngsters from dangerous toys and spoke about broader trade issues.

  On his last Iowa visit before Christmas, Obama touted his plan to tighten regulations on toys imported from China, particularly testing for leadbased paint. He said he would ban toys even with a trace amount of lead.

  "Now, don't get me wrong, as president I will work with China to keep harmful toys off our shelves," Obama said. "But I'll also immediately take steps to ensure that all toys are independently tested before they reach our shores and I'll significantly increase penalties on companies that break the rules." Obama said it was essential to act quickly on the issue.

  "The more toys we import from China, the more risk to our children," he said.

  Obama's campaign contends that up to 80 percent of the nation's toys are imported from China. Background documents from the campaign also claim up to 400,000 children suffer from some level of lead poisoning, underscoring the need for independent inspection of toys.

  The Illinois senator also argued for tougher trade policies that include stronger environmental standards and worker protections.

  Obama continued to draw distinctions with leading rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, though he softened his wording a bit from recent days. On Saturday, Obama had said Edwards didn't have a record to back up his sharply populist rhetoric.

  He also charged that Edwards allowed an independent group to launch a $750,000 ad campaign on his behalf in Iowa, while decrying that practice during campaign events.

  Asked about the issue during a brief meeting with re porters, Obama noted that Edwards had asked the independent group to halt its advertising effort. Obama has said former Edwards' aides are involved in the group.

  Jennifer O'Malley Dillon, Iowa state director for the Edwards campaign, responded that Obama was attacking Edwards because the former North Carolina senator was polling strongly in Iowa.

  Without mentioning his opponents by name, Obama also argued that he hasn't been forced to apologize for any positions he's taken or explain away votes he's cast.

  "I'm not the one who has to apologize for votes I made, not standing up to Republicans," said Obama. "And I think voters should feel pretty confident that when I feel strongly about an issue, I'm going to stand my ground." Obama routinely notes that both Clinton and Edwards voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

  Appearing earlier on the CBS program "Face the Nation," Obama argued that Clinton is a divisive figure who offers risks to Democrats if she's the nominee.

  "I actually think that Senator Clinton is a capable, solid senator from New York but because of the history of some of the things that happened in the 1990s she tends to galvanize the other side," Obama said.

Obama rushes to wrap up support, Omaha World Herald, 12-24

BY C. DAVID KOTOK

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

HARLAN, Iowa - Nancy Olson of Exira, Iowa, left the Sunday rally for Barack Obama committed to stand up for the Illinois Democrat at the Jan. 3 caucuses.

At a rally Sunday at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs, Sen. Barack Obama talked about ending the Iraq war and providing health insurance. The Illinois Democrat also attended a rally Sunday in Harlan."We live in a land of red, white and blue," Olson said. "He gives me hope."

Those are the types of commitments Obama tried to wrap up during a pre-Christmas swing through western Iowa. Today is for last-minute shopping and then home for the holidays before the final push to the caucuses.

In Harlan and in a final stop at Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson High School, Obama stuck closely to his campaign theme of change. There were only vague references to his chief rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination - Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

More than 200 people showed up in Harlan. This was the type of rural rally where more people wore Wranglers than designer jeans and where moms wiped their kids' noses.

While taking questions, Obama turned away a Chicago Cubs fan who hinted that his vote was dependent on Obama's favorite baseball team.

"The White Sox," Obama said. "I'm the south side" of Chicago where the White Sox play.

Then he took a little dig at Clinton, a Chicago native and former Cubs fan who pledged allegiance to the Yankees when she ran for the Senate in New York.

"Let me tell you this," Obama joked. "Don't trust somebody who changes the sports team when running for office."

Obama, who never talks about the hot-button issue of immigration in his set speech, faced a tough question on the impact undocumented workers are having on the country.

A fence along the length of the border with Mexico won't work, Obama said. A fence would do nothing to curtail those who enter the country legally and stay after their visitor or student visas expire, he said.

A combination of increased border patrols and a crackdown on employers is required, Obama said.

Without plentiful jobs for undocumented workers, he said, fewer illegal immigrants would enter the country, and many now here would return to their home countries, Obama said.

But millions of others have sunk roots in this country and have children who are U.S. citizens, he said.

"The notion that we are going to round all those people up and ship them back is just not true," Obama said. There are not enough law enforcement officers in the country to carry out a mass roundup and deportation of millions of people, he said.

Those who insist that the undocumented workers should not be given any path to citizenship or legal status are essentially saying they have no interest in solving the immigration problem, Obama said.

Those now here illegally who do not return to their home countries should face stiff fines, be required to learn English and move to the back of the line in their application for citizenship, Obama proposed.

In both stops, Obama hit on the themes of ending the Iraq war, providing health insurance, ignoring special interests and unifying the country.

It wasn't quite enough to close the sale to Kristina Korte of Carter Lake, Iowa. As she left the Council Bluffs rally, Korte said, she was leaning 40 percent to Clinton and 60 percent to Obama.

Tracy Davidson of Council Bluffs decided for Obama over Clinton about three weeks ago.

"I think he is more electable," Davidson said. "Clinton feels like going backward to me."

Nancy Wilson of Exira said she is one of the registered Republicans attracted to 46-year-old Obama.

"We need change," Wilson said.

After meeting Obama, Wilson told him to be careful.

"I'm afraid for him," Wilson said. "There are a lot of people who are afraid of change."

Obama Wants Better Toy Testing, KCCI/Iowa Politics, 12-23

GREENFIELD, Iowa -- Only two days before Christmas, Democrat Barack Obama is focusing on his drive to protect youngsters from dangerous toys.

On his last Iowa visit before Christmas, Obama called for tightening regulation on toys imported from China, particularly testing for lead-based paint. He said he would ban toys even with a trace amount of lead.

The presidential candidate said all toys should be independently tested before they're sold and that penalties should be increased for companies that break the rules.

Obama said his own shopping plans including power-shopping back home in Chicago on Christmas Eve.

 

Iowa: Obama focuses on Edwards' track record, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

He suggests his Democratic rival is guilty of hypocrisy

By The Associated Press

 

Photo: Charlie Neibergall 

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama singled out rival John Edwards for criticism Saturday, arguing that the former North Carolina senator doesn't have a track record to back up the sharply populist themes he sounds on the campaign trail.

"I've got a track record," said Obama. "I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk. John does not have the same track record."

The Illinois senator and his aides also singled out a new television campaign they said is being launched on Edwards' behalf, accusing him of hypocrisy.

"John said yesterday, he didn't believe in these 527s, those are these independent groups that raise money with no disclosure, nobody knows who is giving them, he said I don't believe in them," said Obama. "We found out today there's a group buying three-quarters of a million dollars worth of television and the individual running the group used to be John Edwards' campaign manager."

Obama, who was opening his latest presidential campaign swing through Iowa, used the occasion to suggest that Edwards is guilty of hypocrisy.

"You can't say yesterday, you don't believe in it and today three-quarters of a million dollars is being spent for you," said Obama. "You can't just talk the talk. Everybody talks change, but how did they act when it was not convenient, when it's hard."

Campaign aides distributed to reporters a list of television ad buys in six markets covering Iowa totaling $796,610 that were purchased by the Alliance for a New America, which they described a pro-Edwards group.

Edwards said in response to Obama's criticisms that he would like to ban political committees of the type known as 527s, and that he had no knowledge of the ad buy, which was made independently of his campaign.

"The way the law operates is we're not allowed to be involved in this -- the campaign's not allowed to be involved, I'm not allowed to be involved," Edwards told reporters after a campaign stop Saturday in Lisbon, Iowa. "I found out about this probably after most of you did through the news media. I didn't know anything about it."

Edwards said while campaigning in New Hampshire earlier this week that he tries to discourage activity by groups supporting him.

Edwards suggested Saturday that his rival's criticism stemmed more from concern that Edwards might be gaining ground in Iowa.

"I guess he's seeing the same thing on the ground that we're seeing here, which is why he's started talking about me, which is that we're moving," Edwards said.

Obama said there is a disparity in Edwards' benefiting from outside political groups he claims to oppose that goes to the core of the candidate's appeal.

"The easiest thing in the world is to talk about change during an election time," said Obama. "Everybody talks about change during election time."

Many of the presidential candidates are benefiting -- and sometimes being criticized -- by independent groups that are only now beginning to make their presence known in the early contest states of Iowa and New Hampshire. These groups can be more targeted, more negative and can coordinate their activities in ways that candidate campaigns cannot.

Former Edwards' advisers Nick Baldick and Jeff Link have been advising the labor-backed groups that are helping him with issue ads.

Edwards has generally lagged slightly behind Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in polls of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, although the three-way race is considered tight.

Obama also extended his criticism to Edwards' single term in the Senate.

"During six years in the Senate he wasn't passing laws to reduce the power of lobbyists," said Obama. He contrasted that with his own role in crafting new ethics legislation.

"I'd like to think in decisions when we actually had a chance to do something about it, I did something and John didn't," Obama said.

Obama also gave special emphasis Saturday to trade and its impact on workers, which has been a key part of Edwards' campaign.

On the stump and in new television commercials, Obama called for more training and health coverage for workers who find their jobs shipped overseas as well as giving them significantly more time to find another job.

"We're not going to stop globalization in its track, but what we can do is have a president who's standing up for American farmers and workers," said Obama, speaking to about 300 people in a middle school gymnasium.

Obama also began airing a new commercial in Iowa titled "Enough" in which he uses the 30-second spot to vow to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas, giving them instead "to companies that are investing right here in Iowa."

As the voting season nears, there are signs that voters are beginning to focus on pocketbook economic issues and Obama was responding by seeking to capitalize on the frustration and anger many feel as they watch companies move overseas, leaving workers high and dry.

"When I'm president we'll give you training before you lose your job if there's a good chance it will get shipped overseas," said Obama. "We'll give you an education account that you can use to retrain."

 

LTE: Support Obama, WCF Courier, 12-23

PATRICIA SPEARS

WATERLOO --- My Christmas wish list.

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want an end to the war in Iraq, a strengthening of America's position in the world, a return to open, transparent government, affordable health care for every American, a move toward eliminating poverty, a safe, sustainable environment, a quality education for every student, protection for our homeland, a comprehensive immigration policy, fair benefits for our veterans, a reconciliation of faith and politics, of red states and blue states, and all of you to join me in supporting my candidate in the Iowa caucus --- Barack Obama.

LTE: Support Obama, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23 

12/23/2007

Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly

It was difficult for me to find a candidate to support from among so many. We, here in Iowa are fortunate because we can see the candidate face-to-face. There are real advantages to seeing someone in person and hearing him speak.

 

We heard Obama and his wife last fall and were very impressed. I finally made up my mind after reading an article in the December Atlantic Monthly, a magazine I respect.

Anyone who believes the war can be ended in a matter of months is dreaming. The number of men and the amount of equipment involved plus the momentum this project now has will keep us occupied for a long time, to say nothing of the human cost in broken minds and bodies.

It is the war that is going on in this country that needs to be addressed. Within our own country we are so bitterly divided on so many issues: gun control, abortion, climate change, energy, stem cell technology, immigration and the list goes on and on. A discussion on any of these topics can quickly escalate into a bitter confrontation, usually leaving us even more divided.

Barak Obama has the unique ability to bring people together. He is both multi-racial and multi-cultural. He has a black father from Africa and a mother from the United States. He spent some of his education in a Muslim school where he was one of only a few Christians.

Repeatedly he as brought widely divergent groups together. He, I believe, is the only candidate who is equipped to do this. There are many more reasons to choose him for your candidate. Buy a copy of the Atlantic Monthly or go to the library and read this very informative article.

R.H. Fanders, Council Bluffs 

Blog Post: Video: Iowa Son Has Political Dream, Iowa Independent, 12-23

by: Adam Burke 

Sunday (12/23) at 13:42 PM 

Xavier Koch hasn't officially entered his name into consideration for any elected position yet, but he already has his eye on the nation's highest office.  The ambitious young man is ten years old and wants to be president of the United States. 

With his mother, Karen Koch, he traveled a half-hour to see Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Washington, Iowa last week and listen to the presidential candidate give an address entitled, "Reclaiming the American Dream."  

 Calling Obama "a great man," he said:

"He says what he thinks and what other people don't want to hear but what he wants them to hear ... he'll bring all the people from the war back and we can trust him."

Adam Burke :: Video: Iowa Son Has Political Dream  

Koch also told the Iowa Independent that he wasn't going to sell his recently acquired Barack Obama autograph, he was keeping it.

More Iowa Independent reporting from this event can be found at: Obama, Loebsack Campaign in Washington, IA.

More videos, including Obama's comparison of his and Clinton's health care reform transparency and an outline of his education plan are at: Obama's Health Care Plan: 'Not Behind Closed Doors.' 

And I.I. reporter Dien Judge has a video, Obama Criticizes Edwards' Senate Record, from a campaign stop in Oskaloosa, 

Blog Post: Rep. Ford reverses decision and endorses Obama, Des Moines Register, 12-23

State Rep. Wayne Ford, a Des Moines Democrat, today endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Ford told The Register Dec. 6 that all candidates had failed to address critical issues important to the minority community.  

Ford and minority advocate Mary Compos in 1984 formed the Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum.  Seven presidential candidates participated in the Dec. 1 event held in Des Moines and, after the event, Ford and Campos said they wouldn't endorse a candidate.

"In our opinion, none of the candidates aggressively dealt with the problems in the urban communities," Ford said Dec. 6.

In a joint statement issued by Ford and Campos, leaders of the forum said the candidates failed to adequately propose real solutions to such issues as the Iraq war, health care, immigration or the high incarceration rte of blacks and Latinos.

But on Sunday Ford announced that he had changed his opinion.

"Barack's ability to win the support of Independents and Republicans means he'll both be our party's strongest general election candidate and a President who can successfully expand economic opportunity and access to affordable housing for every American - including those who live in urban communities," Ford said in a statement released by Obama's campaign.

 

Ford is the longest-tenured African-American in the history of the Iowa Legislature.

 Including Ford, Obama has received 20 endorsements from Iowa state legislators including Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad, Rep. Deborah Berry, Sen. Joe Bolkcom, Sen. Bob Dvorsky, Rep. Elesha Gayman, Sen. Bill Heckroth, Rep. David Jacoby, Rep. Pam Jochum, Rep. Helen Miller, Sen. Rich Olive, Rep. Donovan Olson, Rep. Tyler Olson, Rep. Janet Petersen, Rep. Brian Quirk, Sen. Tom Rielly, Rep. Paul Shomshor, Rep. Mark Smith, Sen. Steve Warnstadt, and Sen. Frank Wood.  

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and State Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald have also endorsed Obama.

RICHARDSON

LTE: Choose Richardson; forgo Clinton's divisiveness, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Like many Iowa Democrats, I take our first-in-the-nation caucus as a serious responsibility. With that in mind, it was particularly disappointing to read the Register's Dec. 16 endorsement of Hillary Clinton.

While the endorsement talks about Clinton's preparedness to lead the nation, the reality is that we need a Democratic candidate who is qualified and is a mediator, who can get elected and heal this nation. Clinton will do the opposite, just by being there.

The endorsement says that "unfortunately, for many Americans, perceptions of Clinton, now 60, remain stuck in a 1990s time warp." Boy, does that say it all: Perception is everything. Clinton's very presence is divisive.

Even if she were to win the nomination, she cannot win the election. Suggesting that she carries too much baggage is an understatement.

I have been a Bill Richardson supporter since this past spring when his TV ads introduced him, and I maintained my support through the Harkin Steak Fry and the Jefferson Jackson dinner and after listening to all of the candidates.

I have had lots of opportunities to give in to the media's forcing the top three candidates down my throat and to be swayed by other campaigns at events.

Richardson and Clinton are not alike. Bill Richardson is the most qualified candidate on all fronts, but he is a mediator who can regain trust and respect internationally for our country. He can draw Republican and independent voters next November and win the election. Clinton cannot.

- Sean Sullivan, Cumming.

GOP

Giuliani: His shifting stances leave some voters confused about his political philosophy, Des Moines Register, 12-24

By Martha T. Moore

The combative former mayor of New York has shown he is resolute in a crisis but also creates turmoil himself.

In three campaigns for mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani lost a squeaker, won a squeaker and won by a landslide. What's more, he did it as a Republican in a city where Democratic voters have a 5-to-1 majority. Now, he's in a position that no New York mayor has ever been in: national front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

"On the face of it, a New York Catholic, thrice-married person who's just a mayor with liberal credentials on immigration, gay rights and abortion would not seem to be a likely leader among Republican and Republican-leaning voters in the United States," said John Mollenkopf, a political scientist at the City University of New York Graduate Center. "And yet, that's where he is."

Giuliani's success has come from persuading voters that he is tough and competent. As evidence, he can point to the sharp decline in crime in New York: In 1993, the year he was first elected, there were 1,946 murders in the city; in 1998, the year after he won his second term, there were 633.

However, his primary achievement to national voters has been his handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His appearances on television that day showed him both managing the catastrophe and reassuring a frightened and grieving city and nation.

Though New York City as a whole benefited from lower crime rates and an improved economy driven by Wall Street, Giuliani's combative style led to high-profile disputes. He threatened to cut off funding in 1999 to the Brooklyn Museum after it displayed artwork he deemed offensive, and in 1995, he threw Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat out of a symphony performance at Lincoln Center.

Both controversies were actually politically savvy, said Fran Reiter, who was a deputy mayor for Giuliani but supports Hillary Clinton. The Brooklyn Museum fight occurred when Giuliani was in his final term as mayor and the year before his aborted run for a Senate seat. "He had to have some Republican bona fides, and he didn't have them," Reiter said. "Was that politically astute? Sure. He was never going to run in New York City again."

As mayor, Giuliani, 63, had limited success with the state Legislature and the governor, especially after he endorsed incumbent Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, in 1994 over the eventual winner, Republican George Pataki. Giuliani wasn't able to prevent the city from losing a commuter tax when it became a political pawn in a state legislative election. Nor could he persuade the Legislature to give him control over the city's struggling school system. His successor, Michael Bloomberg, won control of schools in 2002, shortly after arriving in the mayor's office.

As a presidential candidate, Giuliani is trying to balance his strong credentials on law and order with his more liberal record on social issues such as abortion, gun control, gay rights and immigration. He must also capitalize on the fame he gained on 9/11 without appearing to exploit it. On the stump, he has begun stressing his executive-branch experience and emphasizing his record in New York of reducing crime and welfare rolls, and innovating a statistically based approach to policing.

 

As mayor, Giuliani was known for being blunt to the point of rudeness. He didn't hesitate to tell constituents they were wrong, in need of psychological help, or simply a "jerk," as he told one caller to his weekly radio program.

But what the nation saw on Sept. 11 was Giuliani finding the right words and demeanor to articulate the grief and shock felt by New York City and the nation as people watched terrorist attacks kill thousands on live TV.

The number of dead "will be more than we can bear," he said at the time. "We've suffered terrible losses, and we will grieve for them, but we will be here, tomorrow and forever."

Giuliani encouraged calm and tolerance after the attacks - just as he had done in previous crises, said Fred Siegel, a Giuliani biographer. He points to 1994, when a Hasidic teenager riding in a van on the Brooklyn Bridge was killed by a Lebanese cab driver in apparent retaliation for the deaths of Muslims in Israel, and 1997, when a Palestinian man went on a shooting spree atop the Empire State Building, killing a Danish tourist. Giuliani "played those very well: 'Be calm, don't make too much of this,' " Siegel said.

But often Giuliani could be incendiary: When an unarmed off-duty security guard was killed by police, Giuliani leaked the victim's confidential juvenile record, which was minimal, and said he was no "altar boy." (In fact, the victim had been, his mother told a local cable channel.)

"He was reassuring in a moment of crisis, and I think that's fair. I'm not going to take that away from him," said Ester Fuchs, a Columbia University political scientist who generally is critical of Giuliani. But, she said, "he has a tendency to pour fuel on the fire when it serves his political agenda."

Giuliani has outlined "12 commitments" to voters that include Republican perennials such as cutting taxes and "wasteful Washington spending" and appointing "strict constructionist" judges.

But Giuliani's main plank is his law-and-order vision, turned toward what he calls "the terrorists' war on us."

"His biggest appeal at the base of the electorate is that he's going to be relentlessly tough on what people think is the major threat to our way of life," political scientist John Mollenkopf said. "If Rudy Giuliani had been president and the goal was to get (Osama) bin Laden, I think he would have done it. People see that and it appeals to them."

Giuliani has not provided details on how he would achieve many of his goals. As mayor of New York, Giuliani was a champion of cracking down on minor infractions because letting them slide might create an atmosphere in which major crime flourished. On social issues, he is to the left of the national Republican Party and supports gun control and abortion rights.

But Giuliani's shifting on gun control (which he says should be left to the states) and on immigration (he stresses the need for secure borders instead of immigration's benefits) has left even some of his supporters confused about his political philosophy.

"I don't know what his core beliefs are because he's shed most of them," said Doug Muzzio, a public affairs professor at Baruch College in New York.

Giuliani relies on a tight-knit core of loyal advisers. Within the inner circle, "there was ample opportunity for debate," recalls Fran Reiter, former deputy mayor during Giuliani's first term. "He wanted to know all sides of something before making a decision. He particularly appreciated people who, even if they had their own agenda, would say so."

Once a decision was made, however, everyone had to get on board. "Rudy Giuliani takes on unbelievably hard fights, and he sticks with them and he stands by you," Reiter said.

However, Giuliani's premium on loyalty has led to embarrassment. He gave a top administration job to Russell Harding, son of the head of the Liberal Party, which was instrumental in his election. Harding ended up in jail for corruption and possession of child pornography.

Giuliani promoted his former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, as a candidate for secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security. Kerik turned out to have a slew of confirmation-killing problems - from failing to pay his nanny tax to using as a love nest an apartment near ground zero intended as a respite spot for workers at the site. Kerik was indicted Nov. 9 on charges of federal tax fraud.

Giuliani said on CNBC on Nov. 29 "it was a mistake" that he did not thoroughly vet Kerik. "I acknowledged the fact that I should have checked him out more than I did," he said.

Giuliani decided to locate the city's emergency operations center, opened in 1997, in the World Trade Center complex, which had been bombed by terrorists in 1993. During 9/11, the "bunker" could not be used to respond to the terrorist attack; the World Trade Center was evacuated, burned and collapsed that day.

Giuliani is credited with taming a city considered ungovernable. He stressed accountability and measurable results, most notably with CompStat, the statistics-based approach to policing that was introduced during his administration.

In his presidential campaign, he has proposed similar systems to measure progress in Iraq, security at the nation's borders and ports, and other programs. He championed the "broken windows" approach to civic order: cracking down on small infractions to avoid a sense of lawlessness. After he left office, he summed up his management style in his book "Leadership."

"He brought a sense that government had to be coherent, the parts of government had to work together. You had to have coordination, accountability and measurement," biographer Fred Siegel said. "It sounds like kindergarten, but none of those things had been there before."

Giuliani is a policy wonk on subjects that interest him.

"He studies things. He's not someone who goes on instincts," Siegel said. "He's much more disciplined than (Bill) Clinton. Part of the fun of being around Clinton was the casualness, the sheer fun of it. Nobody feels that way around Giuliani - it's much more business."

Michael Bloomberg, Giuliani's successor in New York, has continued the focus on statistical measurement, and the success in keeping crime down, though with a very different personal style than Giuliani.

Giuliani's Loss Set Stage for Success, AP/QC Times, 12-24

By JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK - Rudy Giuliani revels in a reputation for being unstoppable _ the bold prosecutor of mobsters and crooked politicians, the dauntless mayor at the World Trade Center. And now a Republican presidential contender.

But Giuliani does know failure. He lost his first campaign, a 1989 run for New York mayor.

The loss to Democrat David Dinkins provides an early glimpse into the politician Giuliani is today, and foreshadows some of the issues he faces as a presidential candidate. There's a continuum between the pugnacious prosecutor who vowed "to take back our city" from street thugs and corrupt officials in 1989 and the image of tough-minded leadership Giuliani seeks to project now on the national stage.

His campaign skills may be sharper, his political credentials more certain, but "the style is very much the same," says Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. "Rudy Giuliani is not shy about drawing a line in the sand."

Even many New Yorkers may not remember that Giuliani _ who recently proclaimed himself "probably one of the four or five best known Americans in the world" _ made his political debut as an underdog whose staff made sure to include guidance on how to pronounce "Giuliani" in suggested remarks for the first President Bush.

Not only was Giuliani a first-time candidate, but he was a Republican in a city where none had won a mayor's race since the 1960s. Then, as now, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the city roughly 5-1.

But if Giuliani was an underdog, he wasn't an unknown.

Bush called him "America's greatest crime-fighter." He gave people "a feeling that he's in charge. ... You could see it even then," says veteran New York political consultant David Garth, who worked on Giuliani's successful mayoral bid in 1993.

Giuliani served two terms and was seen as a formidable opponent for Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the Senate in 2000, but dropped out after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Along with Giuliani's strengths, some lasting vulnerabilities also emerged in 1989. He was seen as equivocating on abortion, an issue that hounds him today as he tries to court conservative voters. The stark racial divide in the 1989 vote foreshadowed tensions in Giuliani's eventual administration _ he sometimes declined even to meet with certain black officeholders _ that reverberate today.

New York in 1989 was hardly the glossy boomtown of today. The economy was stumbling in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash. Crime had soared under the scarring influence of crack. The city counted 1,905 homicides in 1989, while it's expected to log fewer than 500 this year.

Deadly attacks on black men by mobs of whites in Queens' Howard Beach neighborhood in 1986 and Brooklyn's Bensonhurst in 1989 _ just three weeks before the primary _ had inflamed racial feelings and sapped 12-year Democratic incumbent Edward Koch's political muscle. And Dinkins was testing that weak spot by offering New Yorkers a chance to elect their first black mayor.

Giuliani, who trounced Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics scion and former U.S. ambassador to Austria, in the GOP primary, presented himself as a City Hall outsider and reformer. He attacked Koch for the city's crime, drugs and corruption _ only to find his opponent would be Dinkins who captured the Democratic primary.

During much of the campaign, polls gave Dinkins double-digit leads over Giuliani.

"People wanted harmony, and people wanted to give David a shot _ a person who, they believed, exemplified racial harmony," says Democratic political consultant George Arzt, then Koch's press secretary.

Still, skirmishes on the campaign trail exposed the fault lines lurking beneath the surface. The Dinkins camp took heat for hiring black activist Robert "Sonny" Carson, a convicted kidnapper, to organize a voter drive. A Giuliani ad aimed at Jewish voters that invoked the Rev. Jesse Jackson _ unpopular over his "Hymietown" remark five years earlier _ also heightened tensions.

In the final weeks, Dinkins was beset by questions about his financial dealings. When Dinkins denied wrongdoing, Giuliani leaped to underline the controversy _ and his own corruption-buster resume.

"A couple of times, it really got a little ugly," recalls Dinkins campaign manager and later Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, to whom Dinkins referred calls for comment for this story.

Dinkins won by less than 3 percentage points, one of the slimmest margins in city history. Exit polls showed perhaps 97 percent of black voters and 70 percent of Hispanic voters chose Dinkins, while two-thirds of white voters went with Giuliani.

Political analysts felt Giuliani had focused too much on exploiting his opponent's liabilities, instead of selling voters on his own assets. "It was more like a prosecution than a campaign, and it didn't work," Maurice "Mickey" Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and a reporter at the time covering the mayoral race for Newsday.

But Giuiliani, the ambitious prosecutor, also gave voters a preview of the administration he eventually would lead, focusing on taxes, restrained spending and an attack on crime, said Peter Powers, who managed the 1989 campaign, but later served as Giuliani's first deputy mayor and today co-chairs his presidential campaign.

Four years after his defeat, a move savvy, better-positioned Giuliani would triumph over Dinkins. He had used the intervening time to sound out a wide range of city experts and interest groups and line up support from prominent Democrats. He also seemed looser, more approachable, even appearing in a "Seinfeld" episode involving the mayor's race.

Says Carroll: "He learned how to win by losing."

Rivals Liken Huckabee to Bill Clinton, AP/CR Gazette/QC Times, 12-24

By LIZ SIDOTI

DAVENPORT, Iowa - To hear Mitt Romney tell it, Republican Mike Huckabee shares more with Democrat Bill Clinton than a hometown in Hope, Ark., and a stint as Arkansas governor.

Both men, Romney suggests, have left-leaning governing philosophies, particularly on taxes and spending.

"Governor Huckabee's record is more liberal than our nation needs right now," the former Massachusetts governor said in Iowa last week, seeking to link his GOP presidential rival to the former Democratic president who is loathed by many Republican loyalists.

Retorted Huckabee: "This nonsense about being a liberal is pure nonsense."

Romney started giving Huckabee that brand _ and implicitly linking him to Clinton _ as polls started showing a tight race in the first state to speak in the GOP nomination fight. Romney had led in Iowa for months, but Huckabee's recent rise here and elsewhere has prompted Romney to go after him.

The effort may be paying off. Polls show Huckabee's double-digit lead dropping to single digits less than two weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Romney's aides argue Huckabee's record as governor undercuts his claim that he's the only authentic conservative in the race. Romney himself has stopped short of explicitly saying his rival is simply another Clinton, though he's less shy about it in campaign literature mailed to thousands of Iowa Republicans.

He wouldn't bite this past week when pressed on whether Huckabee and Clinton were the same.

"They're very different people, and obviously the area of concern relates to spending and taxation. We think of Bill Clinton as being a tax raiser and a spender," Romney said _ then mused that he had read somewhere that Huckabee had raised more taxes than Clinton when they were governors.

Asked whether Huckabee was more like him or Clinton, Romney sidestepped.

"I think you have to look issue by issue," he said.

A day earlier, in Spartanburg, S.C., Romney assailed Huckabee as soft on crime, and then suggested he was even more of a liberal than Clinton on the issue.

"Now in the case of Governor Huckabee, he also faced a number of individuals coming forward for pardons and commutations and he gave out 1,033, even more than the prior three governors combined _ and one of those prior governors was Bill Clinton," Romney said.

He's far more direct in literature mailed by his campaign.

"The Audacity of Hope" one mailer says, a play on the hometown Huckabee and Clinton share _ as well as a book written by Democrat Barack Obama. "Two former governors from Hope. One was president. One wants to be."

It then asks a series of questions, including which governor "raised taxes by $880 million to pay for 8,000 new bureaucrats," and "supported amnesty for illegal immigrants." The mailer says Huckabee is the answer to all.

Looking to break out in Iowa, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson also has distributed his own literature plastered with pictures of Huckabee and Clinton.

"Mike Huckabee wants to hide the fact that he and Bill Clinton share a D lifetime rating for their tax & spend policies," it says, referencing the Cato Institute's scorecard for governors. It also adds: "Mike Huckabee talks like a Republican but taxes like a Democrat."

Huckabee, for his part, is seeking to inoculate himself against such comparisons and turn a vulnerability into an asset. He counters Clinton comparisons with a ready, though exaggerated, response at just about every campaign event.

"I'm the only person running for president who has actually run against the Bill and Hillary Clinton machine, and I didn't just run against it. I beat it four times in Arkansas," Huckabee says now as part of his standard pitch. "They campaigned against me every time. They raised money for every opponent I ever had."

"Against the headwinds of their machine, I not only won the election every time _ I didn't just win it one time and say oh I won't do that again _ I kept going up against them and kept winning, and by the largest margins that any Republican had ever won," Huckabee said.

The line always draws applause _ but it's a stretch.

Huckabee never ran against either Clinton for elected office. They moved to Washington after Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992 _ four years before Huckabee, then lieutenant governor, assumed the state's top job when Democratic Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned after his conviction in the Whitewater investigation.

The Clintons did support Huckabee's opponents and raised money for them, and they still had a lot of connections and supporters in Arkansas after leaving the state. But they had little to do with politics in the state after they left and hardly controlled a political machine.

These days, Huckabee preemptively uses the Clinton line not only to try to distance himself from comparisons but also to argue that he's more likely than other Republicans to beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Huckabee didn't appear to sway Dan Bunnell who told him recently at an event in Newton, Iowa, that he was concerned Huckabee was "too nice" to go up against the Clintons.

The 63-year-old from Grinnell expects Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee and says he's leaning toward Rudy Giuliani, whom he called a street fighter.

"The Clintons run an awfully rough campaign. I'm troubled by the fact, I guess, that Huckabee is a nice guy," Bunnell said, noting that Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister. "I'm looking for somebody that rather than turning the other cheek, is going to haul back and punch him right in the face."

Presidential Profiles: GOP's long shots hope to catch fire, AP/Omaha World Herald, 12-24

BY ROBYNN TYSVER AND JAKE THOMPSON

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS

The Republican presidential hopeful takes about 10 minutes to sell his message: free markets, less government and a strong military.

The small-town boy from Tennessee with the mellifluous drawl doesn't like to make things too complicated.

"It's common sense," Thompson said to a lunchtime group of about 60 at the Four Brothers Bar and Grill in Le Mars.

"If there is one thing I want said about me, it's that I was a consistent common-sense conservative with a 100 percent pro-life voting record my entire career."

"That's where I've been," he added. "That's where I'll be tomorrow."

Despite the hoopla that greeted the entry of the actor-turned-politician into the presidential race last summer, Thompson is now one of three Republicans fighting to break out of the second-tier pack in Iowa.

Polls have consistently shown Thompson and Reps. Ron Paul of Texas and Duncan Hunter of California in the single digits in Iowa. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who also struggled for support, pulled out of the GOP race Thursday.

Seeking to boost his standing with Iowa caucus participants goers, Thompson recently campaigned by bus statewide. He added a get-tough-on-illegal-immigration stance to his message.

Thompson has been endorsed by Rep. Steve King, who represents heavily Republican western Iowa and calls the Tennessean a "full-spectrum conservative."

King promises to give Thompson's campaign "everything I have" up to the Jan. 3 caucuses. King said he will hit the road day and night, if need be, in his sport utility vehicle, which is equipped to power a computer, a printer, cell phones and even a slow cooker.

"The question is: Does Fred have the fire in his belly to win this campaign?" King said. "Well, I'm going to put some fire in his campaign."

Thompson, meanwhile, hasn't fared better in New Hampshire, the all-important first primary state. He and Hunter each drew 1 percent support in a mid-December poll there.

If anyone's grabbing attention among the also-ran Republicans, it's Paul. He drew 7 percent support in the New Hampshire survey.

Paul recently raised more than $6 million in 24 hours, mostly online - one of the largest single-day fundraising totals in the history of presidential politics.

He is the lone Republican candidate calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Paul plans to use his infusion of cash in New Hampshire and other key early primary states such as South Carolina and Florida.

Thompson, a former U.S. senator, entered the race with a head of steam that began to evaporate shortly after his announcement tour of Iowa.

He was supposed to be the true-blue conservative alternative to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Instead, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has captured much of the thunder, running as the "authentic conservative."

Many Iowa Republicans say Thompson entered the race too late. Others question whether he has the energy and desire to compete. Thompson has visited Iowa 16 times, compared with Romney's 67 visits.

Thompson's stops in Iowa often are brief and his speeches general.

His celebrity appeal - he has starred in movies and as the district attorney in the long-running "Law & Order" television series - hasn't helped him much with serious-minded Iowans.

"He hasn't been out as much," said Gerry Ihrke, a Republican caucusgoer from Le Mars, who said he thought Thompson was running on his name recognition and "not because of his senatorial career." Ihrke said he was leaning toward Giuliani.

Thompson has, however, shown some spark in recent weeks. In a Des Moines debate, he nearly led a revolt against the moderator when he refused to raise his hand in response to a question on global warming.

Thompson later issued a statement saying that if his colleagues couldn't stand up to the moderator, how could they be expected to stand up to al-Qaida?

Thompson is running heavily on his Senate record, touting his support of tax cuts, longtime opposition to abortion and his opposition to granting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. He also supports the Iraq war.

"We used to have a certain basic understanding in this country that peace was derived by strength and determination and perseverance, and respect for the sanctity of life and respect for the miracle of a market economy," Thompson said.

Paul traces all his basic understanding back to the U.S. Constitution.

The Libertarian Party's presidential candidate in 1988, Paul boasts that he has never voted for legislation unless it is expressly authorized by the Constitution.

Now running as a Republican, Dr. Ron Paul - he's an obstetrician who has delivered 4,000 babies - leads an eccentric campaign that is drawing eclectic audiences. Supporters say they're part of a revolution.

Paul says that, as president, he would let states decide whether to legalize marijuana.

He would shrink the federal government: no more Department of Education, no more Internal Revenue Service. Same for the Federal Reserve system, Medicare, Medicaid and America's involvement in Iraq.

"I think the whole sentiment is shifting," Paul said recently. "I think people are sick and tired of the war."

He also would curtail the U.S. military presence elsewhere overseas.

"We maintain an empire which we can't afford," Paul said in a debate. "We have 700 bases overseas. We're in 130 countries. We cut there, and then we have a better defense of this country, and the people get that money and they get to spend it here at home."

Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said Paul has stayed "on message." His money could help him have an impact on the presidential contest, Bystrom said.

By comparison, she said, she was puzzled by Hunter's lightly funded presidential quest.

Hunter is a Vietnam War veteran and a longtime member of the House Armed Services Committee. During the Des Moines debate, he sketched why he's running.

He wants to build a strong national defense, enforce border security and recapture the high-paying manufacturing jobs that the United States has lost to "bad trade deals."

"I know what it takes to secure this country," Hunter said. "I also built that border fence in San Diego that worked so well, and I wrote the law that takes it across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. And as president, I will finish that border fence in six months."

Giuliani's Loss Set Stage for Success, AP/Omaha World Herald, 12-24

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

Republican presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, speaks at a town hall-style meeting, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007, in Hopkinton, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)NEW YORK (AP) - Rudy Giuliani revels in a reputation for being unstoppable - the bold prosecutor of mobsters and crooked politicians, the dauntless mayor at the World Trade Center. And now a Republican presidential contender.

But Giuliani does know failure. He lost his first campaign, a 1989 run for New York mayor.

The loss to Democrat David Dinkins provides an early glimpse into the politician Giuliani is today, and foreshadows some of the issues he faces as a presidential candidate. There's a continuum between the pugnacious prosecutor who vowed "to take back our city" from street thugs and corrupt officials in 1989 and the image of tough-minded leadership Giuliani seeks to project now on the national stage.

His campaign skills may be sharper, his political credentials more certain, but "the style is very much the same," says Lee M. Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. "Rudy Giuliani is not shy about drawing a line in the sand."

Even many New Yorkers may not remember that Giuliani - who recently proclaimed himself "probably one of the four or five best known Americans in the world" - made his political debut as an underdog whose staff made sure to include guidance on how to pronounce "Giuliani" in suggested remarks for the first President Bush.

Not only was Giuliani a first-time candidate, but he was a Republican in a city where none had won a mayor's race since the 1960s. Then, as now, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the city roughly 5-1.

But if Giuliani was an underdog, he wasn't an unknown.

Bush called him "America's greatest crime-fighter." He gave people "a feeling that he's in charge. ... You could see it even then," says veteran New York political consultant David Garth, who worked on Giuliani's successful mayoral bid in 1993.

Giuliani served two terms and was seen as a formidable opponent for Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the Senate in 2000, but dropped out after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Along with Giuliani's strengths, some lasting vulnerabilities also emerged in 1989. He was seen as equivocating on abortion, an issue that hounds him today as he tries to court conservative voters. The stark racial divide in the 1989 vote foreshadowed tensions in Giuliani's eventual administration - he sometimes declined even to meet with certain black officeholders - that reverberate today.

New York in 1989 was hardly the glossy boomtown of today. The economy was stumbling in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash. Crime had soared under the scarring influence of crack. The city counted 1,905 homicides in 1989, while it's expected to log fewer than 500 this year.

Deadly attacks on black men by mobs of whites in Queens' Howard Beach neighborhood in 1986 and Brooklyn's Bensonhurst in 1989 - just three weeks before the primary - had inflamed racial feelings and sapped 12-year Democratic incumbent Edward Koch's political muscle. And Dinkins was testing that weak spot by offering New Yorkers a chance to elect their first black mayor.

Giuliani, who trounced Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics scion and former U.S. ambassador to Austria, in the GOP primary, presented himself as a City Hall outsider and reformer. He attacked Koch for the city's crime, drugs and corruption - only to find his opponent would be Dinkins who captured the Democratic primary.

During much of the campaign, polls gave Dinkins double-digit leads over Giuliani.

"People wanted harmony, and people wanted to give David a shot - a person who, they believed, exemplified racial harmony," says Democratic political consultant George Arzt, then Koch's press secretary.

Still, skirmishes on the campaign trail exposed the fault lines lurking beneath the surface. The Dinkins camp took heat for hiring black activist Robert "Sonny" Carson, a convicted kidnapper, to organize a voter drive. A Giuliani ad aimed at Jewish voters that invoked the Rev. Jesse Jackson - unpopular over his "Hymietown" remark five years earlier - also heightened tensions.

In the final weeks, Dinkins was beset by questions about his financial dealings. When Dinkins denied wrongdoing, Giuliani leaped to underline the controversy - and his own corruption-buster resume.

"A couple of times, it really got a little ugly," recalls Dinkins campaign manager and later Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, to whom Dinkins referred calls for comment for this story.

Dinkins won by less than 3 percentage points, one of the slimmest margins in city history. Exit polls showed perhaps 97 percent of black voters and 70 percent of Hispanic voters chose Dinkins, while two-thirds of white voters went with Giuliani.

Political analysts felt Giuliani had focused too much on exploiting his opponent's liabilities, instead of selling voters on his own assets. "It was more like a prosecution than a campaign, and it didn't work," Maurice "Mickey" Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and a reporter at the time covering the mayoral race for Newsday.

But Giuiliani, the ambitious prosecutor, also gave voters a preview of the administration he eventually would lead, focusing on taxes, restrained spending and an attack on crime, said Peter Powers, who managed the 1989 campaign, but later served as Giuliani's first deputy mayor and today co-chairs his presidential campaign.

Four years after his defeat, a move savvy, better-positioned Giuliani would triumph over Dinkins. He had used the intervening time to sound out a wide range of city experts and interest groups and line up support from prominent Democrats. He also seemed looser, more approachable, even appearing in a "Seinfeld" episode involving the mayor's race.

Says Carroll: "He learned how to win by losing."

Analysis: Can Thompson's late effort pay off?, Des Moines Register, 12-23

By WILLIAMS THEOBALD

Gannett News Service 

Mason City, IA. - Even his harshest critics would likely concede that Fred Thompson had a good campaign swing through Iowa this week.

But as he headed home to Virginia on Saturday for a three-day Christmas break before returning to Iowa for the second half of his Iowa bus tour, the question that this last-minute effort began with still stands.

Will it make any difference?

Sure, Thompson won the endorsement of influential conservative Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa. And despite losing out on Rep. Tom Tancredo's endorsement when the Colorado congressman dropped out of the presidential race and backed Mitt Romney, the next day Tancredo's Iowa campaign chairman endorsed Thompson.

Yes, Thompson's five-stop-a-day schedule answers critics who say he is a lazy campaigner. And the press coverage has been more positive, the crowds larger, the candidate sharper yet more relaxed and sometimes even appearing to be having fun.

But politics, in the end, is about concrete things like fundraising dollars and votes. And in those empirical categories it is difficult to see any impact yet.

Some polls have shown slight improvement but others have shown him dropping slightly among voters in Iowa and nationally. The Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll found Thompson at 11 percent nationally at the start of the week and the same number at the end of the week. That left him tied for third behind Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

While staffers say there have been no pay cuts or layoffs, the financial leanest of Thompson's campaign is obvious. Romney launched three new TV ads in the past week and was on a jet. Thompson was on a bus, albeit a large, tricked-out one, and left to stopping at small newspapers, doing radio "town hall meetings" and posting pleas for money on his Web site.

Thompson aides say that they have seen increases in donations and in traffic on the candidate's Web site, but would not give specific numbers. And they point to the pile of commitment cards signed by voters at this week's events promising to go to the Jan. 3 caucus and support Thompson.

Thompson said Saturday at the only event he held before a snowstorm forced him to cut short his campaigning and head home that he sees improvement in the reaction of the audiences, the polls, and the comments of prominent conservative political pundits.

"It's also the feeling I have as a person who's won elections," Thompson said.

In the end, however, Thompson supporters in Iowa are left to hope there are more people like the woman in Fort Dodge, who came to see Thompson speak at the Webster County Republican headquarters. As her husband stood outside in the Iowa cold smoking a cigarette, he looked through the window at his wife chatting with members of Thompson's staff.

His wife, he said, had attended a Romney event the night before and had decided to support him. "Now, I bet she's in there changing her mind," he lamented.

Sure enough, when she came out the door she was a committed Thompson supporter who had even sat for a video interview to the posted on the campaign Web site.

Immigration reform is Tancredo's legacy, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

By MARY RAE BRAGG TH staff writer

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For someone who never got into double digits in campaign polling, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo probably did more to influence the 2007 presidential debate than any "non-contender" in memory.

Tancredo first brought his rallying call for immigration policy reform to Dubuque 2 1/2 years ago, saying he was determined to make America's open borders an issue in the 2008 campaign.

Hard to believe now, but in the 2004 campaign immigration was a non-issue and Tancredo told the Telegraph Herald he was going to "force candidates to deal with it" in the next cycle.

He promised that if no other candidate came forward to carry the reform banner, he would. And when it got to be the first of this year and no one had, Tancredo did.

He worked Iowa and paid as much attention to Dubuque as any of the Republican candidates, more than most of them. Never mind that Dubuque is not regarded as a GOP stronghold, Tancredo was intent on his message and it never changed.

Those who dismissed him as a one-issue wonder, an opportunist seeking to build a career on xenophobia, seemingly Advertisement 

underestimated and misunderstood the congressman. His Dubuque audiences never saw Tancredo act like an angry man, just a man convinced that porous borders provide an entrance for trouble of all kinds.

His message was picking up steam as the 2006 congressional races opened.

Republican candidate Mike Whalen, of Davenport, Iowa, appeared taken aback when he came to Dubuque to announce his candidacy and the first question he got was from a man worried about illegal immigrants. Later in the campaign, Whalen said he was getting more questions about immigration policy than any other issue.

Who would have thought Iowans could get worked up over the Mexican border? Tancredo, for one.

It was an issue that made liberals uncomfortable and still does. On one hand, they didn't want to be mean to people risking their lives to come here because of poverty. Still, it didn't make sense to let people flow into the country without them being held accountable.

As Tancredo called reporters together Thursday in Des Moines to tell them he was pulling out of the Republican presidential primary, he said he was doing so because, "I believe the cause demands I do so."

There are more viable Republican candidates who adopted his "no amnesty" message as their own, Tancredo said, and he feared if he stayed in the race, he would draw votes away from them, allowing those with "abysmal records on immigration" to win.

Tancredo endorsed Mitt Romney's campaign, coming at a time when former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee is rising above Romney in Iowa polling.

An article in Thursday's Washington Post says a Post-ABC News poll shows three out of 10 Republican voters see immigration as their top issue.

While Tancredo can find encouragement in those numbers, another Republican candidate, Arizona Sen. John McCain, is worried that his party is hurting its chances of keeping the White House when it continues the anti-amnesty drumbeat.

Talking with the Telegraph Herald editorial board earlier this month, McCain said the immigration debate "could make it seem Republicans don't like (Hispanics)."

McCain noted that President Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004 and "could not have won without that margin."

But by 2006, the margin of support for Republican candidates was down to 26 percent, McCain said. He got 70 percent of his state's Hispanic vote in 2004, he said, "but that was after 20 years of work."

McCain readily acknowledges that he hurt himself as a primary candidate by joining with Bush and Democrats to put together an immigration reform package that went nowhere in Congress.

McCain's campaign has picked up momentum in recent weeks, so he still has a chance of getting the GOP nomination. But if he doesn't, it may be that the determined little congressman from Colorado was David to McCain's Goliath.

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The Los Angeles Times on Thursday carried a story with a Dubuque dateline profiling Teri Goodmann in her role as a long-time supporter for presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Goodmann, Dubuque's assistant city manager, is portrayed trying in vain to keep the candidate on schedule and planning local caucus strategy with supporters. The article includes Goodmann's political history, particularly her work for Biden when he first ran for president in 1987 and the friendship that developed between the Goodmann and Biden families.

Comments from Democratic activist Chuck Isenhart and Greater Dubuque Development Corp. Executive Director Rick Dickinson are included.

A new Lifetime/Zogby poll of New Hampshire women says only one in four have decided on a candidate they will vote for when their state holds its presidential primary on Jan. 8.

The pollsters said they found an "Iowa Effect" that they say could dramatically change the women's election choices.

One in four said she will switch candidates if her top pick does not place first in Iowa. That includes more than 40 percent of McCain and Romney supporters.

The survey interviewed 1,000 women nationally, in addition to 500 women living in New Hampshire. 

Concerning issues they ranked to be of importance in the national survey, education was first, followed by jobs and the economy, health care and the war in Iraq. New Hampshire participants ranked Iraq and health care higher than education and the economy.

"There is also a dramatic difference nationally on priorities between Republican women and Democratic women," a news release said. "Republicans choose homeland security and terrorism as their issue of greatest concern, but Democrats rank the issue tenth. Independents are closer to Democrats on this, ranking it eighth. Health care, the second concern for Democrats and Independents, ranks seventh for Republican women."

Iowa: Huckabee calls for stronger military, families, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

Candidate wants a drastic increase in regular forces to ease the strain on National Guard, reserve units

By The Associated Press

 

Photo: Dave Weaver 

Republican presidential hopeful, Mike Huckabee, greets supporters Saturday during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appealed to Iowa conservatives on two fronts Saturday, calling for a stronger military and stronger families.

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who jumped to a lead in Iowa polls earlier this month, wants a drastic increase in regular forces to ease the strain on National Guard and reserve units being called up for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We need to have a larger regular force to make sure we are capable if we do have to go into battle, and let's pray to God that we don't," Huckabee told about 120 people in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Huckabee acknowledged the criticism leveled at him last week for his negative comments about President Bush's foreign policy, although he mischaracterized the criticism.

Huckabee said detractors don't like his opinion that a larger force should have invaded Iraq. In fact, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disagreed with a separate Huckabee complaint, that Bush has an "arrogant bunker mentality" toward foreign policy that is offensive to other countries.

He repeated his complaint that Bush should have listened to military commanders who said more troops were needed for the initial invasion.

"Once you engage in battle, you do not let the politicians second-guess and mess with the decisions of the battlefield commanders who have the blood on their boots and the medals on their chest," Huckabee told around 300 supporters later in a high school auditorium in Sioux Falls.

Huckabee's foreign policy views were also criticized by GOP rival Mitt Romney, whom Huckabee knocked out of the lead in Iowa polls earlier this month.

The ascent of Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has been fueled by Christian conservatives who share his evangelical faith and, in many cases, say they are uncomfortable with Romney's Mormon faith.

On his final stretch of campaigning before the Christmas holiday, Huckabee underlined his lifelong opposition to abortion and gay marriage, issues that will likely drive many churchgoers to the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa.

"It's not because I don't like them," Huckabee said of gay people. "It's because I like even more the idea that the heart and soul, the essence of our civilization is in the family. It's not in the government. It's not even in some institution, not even the church. Before there was the church, and before there was government, there was family.

"When you mess with the design, you end up messing with results," he added. "We can't afford to do that. That's why you will never hear me waver."

His emphasis on consistency calls attention to Romney's inconsistency. Romney favored abortion rights and gay rights when elected governor of Massachusetts, but has since changed his mind on abortion and in his presidential campaign has played down his support for gay rights, while playing up his opposition to gay marriage.

Huckabee also thumped Romney for spending millions of dollars to organize and boost his profile in Iowa. Huckabee runs a tiny campaign on a shoestring budget and, even with significant help from outside groups and pastors, is vastly outgunned in the state.

"But what would happen in this country if money couldn't buy the presidency?" Huckabee asked. "What would happen if Iowa said we're not for sale, and we're not even for rent?"

In Orange City, he joked about mailboxes stuffed full of campaign mailings: "I know you normally look forward to Christmas cards this time of year. This time, you go and -- Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum, Huckabee's a bum.

"My wife could've told you that and saved the postage," he said as a packed auditorium laughed and clapped.

It wasn't all talk for Huckabee, who despite his conservative image likes to rock out on bass guitar. In Sioux City, to illustrate what he needs to do over the crucial next few days, Huckabee played "Takin' Care of Business," the 1970s hit by Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

 

Huckabee makes Bluffs stop, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, 12-23

TIM ROHWER, Staff Writer

12/23/2007

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 Staff photo/Josh White - Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee speaks to a crowd about the importance of family values during a campaign stop Saturday morning at The Center.   

For a country to be free, it must be able to do three things - feed itself, fuel itself and defend itself if necessary, said Mike Huckabee.

"The next president better make sure to focus on those three things," said Huckabee, who believes he's the best person to do that.

The former Arkansas governor and a top Republican presidential candidate spoke to a large Council Bluffs gathering Saturday, touting key conservative points like lower taxes, smaller government and strong family values.

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"The heart, soul and essence of our civilization is the family," he said.

It's important to show the world America's military strength, but not in a way to alienate others, Huckabee said, like the kid everyone knew growing up who was good at everything and encouraged others to improve themselves as well.

"You admired him, you wanted to be like him," he said. "We can act with strength and still do it in a positive and encouraging way."

If this country ever went to war again, there must be a clear, defined objective and to follow that with "overwhelming force," Huckabee said.

He supports a larger military because it is currently understaffed, Huckabee said.

And, it's important to let the military commanders in the field decide what is the best action, not politicians, he added.

For a country to be free, it must also produce its own energy, which would end the slavery of Middle East oil interests, he said.

There must also be a new focus on prevention in health care because America currently spends hundreds of billions of dollars on chronic illnesses, Huckabee said. It's like treating Humpty Dumpty after he fell off the wall, he said, when it is better to protect him from falling.

"What we need to focus on is preventing those diseases."

Huckabee also supports the implementation of the Fair Tax as the best way to revive the economy and is very passionate about the right for life.

"If taking the life of an unborn child isn't wrong, then nothing is wrong."

Huckabee served more than 10 years as Arkansas governor giving him more executive experience than any other candidate, he said.

Local businessman Jeff Ballenger is impressed.

"He ran against the Clinton machine in Arkansas very successfully and there's a good chance he'll be up against Hillary Clinton as the Republican nominee," he said.

Bob Vander Plaats, Huckabee's state chairman, said, "If you want somebody to beat Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee can beat her." 

LTE: John McCain is the right choice, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Why should we choose John McCain as the Republican nominee for president? John McCain is the most respected, honored, experienced and trustworthy candidate in the field. He is extremely well-versed in foreign policy and he is the only candidate with the experience and knowledge to wage a winning war against radical Islamic extremists.

A recent Fox News poll rated John McCain as the Republicans' best hope against Hillary Clinton. John McCain is not your normal politician; he stands for what he feels is right regardless of the political cost. He knows how to get things done. He has shown the ability to reach across the party divide and build a bipartisan consensus.

John McCain is a commander-in-chief ready to lead. He has the experience to reform; he has bold solutions for the future and is a man of high values and great integrity.

- Ron Jorgensen, Sioux City.

LTE: Why would religious people align themselves with GOP?, QC Times, 12-24

The Democrats believe they are their brother's keeper as they fight for health care reform and job benefits. The Republicans believe they are not their brother's keeper as they fight for tax cuts and benefits for the wealthy.

  It is strange that the religious right has aligned itself with the party of the rich. How can people be so religious without regard to their fellow man? Jesus worked among the poor and had nothing good to say about the rich. Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:24). He threw the "money-changers" out of the temple.

  The Republican Party is the party of the rich and the money-changers. Republicans repeatedly cut taxes that benefit the very rich. With these tax cuts come cuts in programs that benefit the rest of us. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

  Frank LaTorre, Tipton

LTE: 'Blessed are the poor', QC Times, 12-24

By Arthur C. Donart

I am astonished by all the Republican aspirants to the presidency of the United States going around proclaiming their Christianity and seeing who can out do who in dealing with these damnable, welfare sopping, criminal, law-breaking illegal aliens. All I hear is: throw them out; no amnesty, build a USA version of the Berlin wall.

So let's appeal to the New Testament. Matthew 2: 19-23, the flight into Egypt. Pharaoh says, "We gotta stop these illegal Jewish immigrants, no amnesty for them, build a fence instead of a pyramid." No, that won't work.

Let's try another. Matthew 5:1-12 Blessed are the poor . . . Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. No, not that one.

Matthew 11: 2-11? "Report to John what you see . . . the poor have the good news preached to them."

I see in the New Testament a lot about the greedy and the needy and the need to repent. But I cannot for the life of me vision a Jesus advocating no amnesty for illegal aliens; break up families; get rid of the poor.

If we allow the corporations to push our government into making trade agreements that cause poverty and suffering elsewhere, then why should we resent it because they come here? Doesn't the "right to life" include the right to eat? And where is the Christianity in the solutions proposed by the Republican candidates?

Arthur C. Donart, Thomson

LTE: McCain has credentials, proven performance, QC Times, 12-24

By Jay Jacobowitz, Bettendorf

The main reason that I support John McCain is his proven ability to sponsor and pass legislation at a national level. It strikes me as too easy for a candidate to say that he will not support this or that, while in the meantime waiting for a perfect solution and leaving problems unsolved, or to trumpet the hundreds of vetoes exercised, again without solving problems.

The next president will be facing the daunting task of bringing a very polarized political process back together and it seems to me that McCain is the only Republican candidate with the credentials and proven performance to accomplish that task.

LTE: Thompson carries the mantle of Reagan, QC Times, 12-24

By Scott Anderson, Davenport

Fred Thompson is a conservative Republican. If there is any one in this election that carries the mantle of Ronald Reagan, it is he.

Thompson is a staunch Constitutionalist. He believes in limited federal government and in placing as much power as possible back in the hands of the states.

He knows that the war with terrorists must be won. He believes that lower taxes are key to economic success. He wants judges who follow the Constitution, rather than write law. He understands that the freedoms we enjoy are not the product of government, but are inalienable rights from our Creator. He is pro-life.

What has impressed me the most about Thompson is the manner he has shown leadership in this campaign. In his words, "You don't lead by issues; you lead by principles." His leadership was pretty evident in the recent Des Moines Register debate when he objected to the childish nature of a question. It was almost comical to watch the other candidates fall in behind in an "I was going to say that" fashion.

We need Thompson as our next President. He has the character, the experience, and the mettle that the office of the president demands.

Blog Post: Fred Thompson's "Hands Down" thing, Radio Iowa, 12-23

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is a bit low on campaign cash, so filling up his campaign bus with gas and traveling around Iowa is much cheaper than air fare to ferry between Iowa and New Hampshire in the closing days before both states host contests. 

Thompson's bus tour theme is  "The Clear Conservative Choice:  Hands Down."  It's meant to remind Iowa Republicans of Thompson's refusal at this month's The Des Moines Register debate to participate in a "show of hands" when the moderator asked the candidates whether they believed there was such a thing as global warning. 

"You know, tell us about the future of the world, you know, in 30 second kind of things and then when 30 seconds gets to be even too long, they just want...a show of hands and I could see what was comin', you know, they're going to run issue by issue by issue with ambiguous, you know, kinds of questions that nobody can say an absolute yes or no on some of them and I could see that comin' and I just wasn't playin' that game," Thompson said during a telephone interview with Radio Iowa this past week.  "There's no way I could have anticipated that but my natural instinct was to say, 'Wait a minute.  This isn't right.  I ain't doin' it."  

Thompson suggested his competitors who shared that debate stage were all ready to dance to the moderator's tune until he, rhetorically, put his foot down. "And then of course when I did that everybody else jerked their hands down right quick," Thompson said. "...If you want to talk about a serious issue, then let's talk about it, but none of this lookin' like a bunch of trained seals there waitin' for the next fish to be thrown to us."  

I gave Thompson an unlimited amount of time to express his views on global warming.  He talked for 90 seconds.  The story on that is coming on Radio Iowa on Tuesday.

Posted on Sunday, December 23, 2007 at 09:00 AM in Politics | Permalink 

Comments

Memo to John Edwards:

You have a big problem, sir. The National Enquirer is not backing down on the story about your recent adultry. As Dick Morris, former Clinton buddy, found out from "THE STAR" tabloid, when the tabloids don't back down then only two things could be true.

Either, the National Enquirer is being totally fooled by a completely believable carload of factual-appearling evidence such as emails, witness statements, pictures, and other court-worthy stuff, OR, the National Enquirer is absolutely knowingly slandering you, Mr. Lawyer, and the now-pregnant former coke head, your supposed girlfriend.

So, if this story by the Enquirer is just a big lie, then WHERE IS THE SLANDER LAWSUIT? Right, I guess the last question is the guts of the matter.

Blog Post: Fred Thompson Tries to Stay Alive in Iowa, 12-23

That was the headline of an AP story about Thompson.

In case you were wondering, they were talking about his campaign and not him actually trying to keep himself alive.

Thompson is still out and about around Iowa, asking people to give him applause.

THE FIELD

Rights vs. security: Candidates take stance, Des Moines Register, 12-24

By JANE NORMAN

Washington, D.C. - In just the second presidential election since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a host of questions about the clash between civil liberties and national security confronts the candidates for the presidency.

The split is more by party than among the candidates, and the issue could gain importance in the general election, especially if worries over the war in Iraq recede, some say.

The Bush administration has come under severe criticism from Democrats for certain anti-terrorist policies, most prominently the detainment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the past five years.

Democrats view the lack of an independent judge and fair hearings for prisoners there as a telling indicator when it comes to rights guaranteed in a society governed by the rule of law.

Democratic candidate Joe Biden, for example, told The Des Moines Register that Bush has "made us less safe at home and weaker abroad," pointing to the prison as a facility that "symbolizes the administration's lack of respect for basic human and civil liberties."

Democratic candidates for the presidency also have slammed the administration over domestic wiretapping and other counter-terrorism practices on U.S. soil that they say violate civil liberties.

Republicans, for the most part, have contended that the methods used are necessary to protect Americans in a dangerous new world, and they downplay conditions in the prison. "We can't close Guantanamo, because nobody will take the people (who are) there," said Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani in September.

In a recent GOP debate, former Gov. Mitt Romney agreed. "I want to make sure these folks are kept at Guantanamo," he said. "I don't want the people that are carrying out attacks on this country to be brought into our jail system and be given legal representation in this country."

One exception is Sen. John McCain, who would transfer the suspects to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., a maximum security prison. McCain, a former prisoner of war, also has been the most outspoken in opposing the use of torture, including the "waterboarding" technique in which drowning is simulated, and he confronted Romney on the issue in a recent debate.

"It's about what kind of country we are," McCain says.

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee on the campaign trail also has voiced support for closing Guantanamo, saying it is a "distraction" in the war on terror. He also has said he regards waterboarding as torture and it should not be U.S. policy.

Brian Lai, an associate professor of political science at the University of Iowa whose specialties are foreign policy and terrorism, said Democrats to date have focused more on sharpening their differences over the war in Iraq or threats posed by Iran.

They have more in common when it comes to civil liberties and national security. "It's hard for the candidates to differentiate themselves amongst the other Democratic candidates, especially in regards to terrorism," said Lai. Most believe the prison at Guantanamo ought to be closed, he said.

"More or less, on the Republican side, they have the opposite opinion, that we should keep Guantanamo Bay," he said.

This and similar issues will assume a higher profile once the primary races are over, he said.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., said if the war in Iraq becomes less of a campaign hot button, the focus of the general election may shift far more to issues of a more domestic nature.

That isn't necessarily bad news for Republicans, he said. "If the economy keeps growing as it has ... I think the domestic issues won't be to (Democrats') advantage, except for health care," he said.

It also will be helpful for Republicans to emphasize themselves as tough on keeping terrorists at bay "if Iraq is not a detractor from it," he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently debated whether 300 suspected terrorists at Guantanamo deserve hearings beyond the hearings before three military judges they now are allowed. Prisoners are not given lawyers and can't challenge evidence, and critics say this means they are stripped of what is known as habeus corpus rights.

Members of Congress, including Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., have introduced legislation to close Guantanamo, but public opinion does not appear conclusive.

A national poll of 1,029 adults conducted in June for CNN found that 46 percent of those surveyed said the prison should continue to operate, while 45 percent said it should be closed and prisoners transferred.

Another national poll, this one by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, asked 2,007 adults nationwide in December 2006 through January 2007 if it is necessary for the average person to give up some civil liberties to curb terrorism. Of those surveyed, 40 percent said it would be necessary, while 54 percent said it would not.

Harkin said he believes Guantanamo "absolutely" will be shut down if a Democrat is elected president. "I think it's really scary," he said, "if we really go down this road and do away with habeus corpus."

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton says Guantanamo has "compromised our long-term military and strategic interests and gravely impaired our standing overseas."

On the larger issue of how she would balance civil liberties with national security, Clinton told The Des Moines Register in a statement that one of the country's greatest strengths is its capacity to protect the safety of citizens and protect their civil liberties.

"As president, I will do everything in my power to protect our country from future terrorist attacks," she said. "But that does not mean that we must sacrifice the rule of law or our Constitution in the name of security."

Sen. Barack Obama said the Bush administration has put forward a false choice between civil liberties and security.

"When I am president, there will be no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens," he said in a statement to the Register. "No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war."

Former Sen. John Edwards also denied a trade-off between civil liberties and security.

"America must do whatever it takes to defeat terrorism, but securing a lasting victory will take moral as well as military strength," he said. Guantanamo is a "symbol that galvanizes our enemies and alienates our allies," he said.

Candidate Chris Dodd said that "our standing in the world is directly tied to our ability to gain international cooperation, fight terror and protect our national security."

All of the Democrats say the Patriot Act needs change, although they disagree about whether it should be shelved or updated. That act, in the wake of Sept. 11, was quickly approved by Congress to, among other things, give greater latitude to law enforcement to search records, homes or businesses looking for terrorists. It recently was reauthorized.

Clinton, Biden, Dodd and Edwards all voted yes on the original Patriot Act in 2001. Obama was not yet in office. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio voted no.

Republicans, while not tying themselves closely to the president, generally are less critical of his record on terrorism, including Guantanamo, and they defend the passage of the Patriot Act. Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California both voted for the act in 2001; Rep. Ron Paul of Texas voted no.

Huckabee said through a campaign spokesman he would not make any changes in it.

Romney said that "the best way to protect this country is to have effective intelligence and counter-terrorism work. And while we must be respectful of civil liberties and privacy concerns, we must never forget that the No. 1 right that the government must protect is the right to be alive."

Romney also has defended the prison against criticism that it is inhumane, and has pointed out it houses those who would do great harm to the United States, such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

"He was captured. He was the so-called mastermind of the 9/11 tragedy," Romney said. "And he turned to his captors and he said, 'I'll see you in New York with my lawyers.' I presume ACLU lawyers. Well, that's not what happened. He went to Guantanamo and he met G.I.s and CIA interrogators. And that's just exactly how it ought to be."

Romney praised the Patriot Act as a "key tool" in gathering intelligence that protects the homeland. Terrorists must be identified before they attack and surveillance conducted, he said, all "aided measurably" by the legislation.

Thompson says that the essence of the U.S. government is a constant balance between liberty and security, depending on the nature of the threat.

"Trade-offs are always going to be necessary," Thompson told the Register in a statement. "We should err on the side of liberty, but we must also recognize, in the words of another famous aphorism, that 'the Constitution is not a suicide pact.' "

He said he wouldn't make any changes to the Patriot Act, which he voted to approve as a senator.

Lai said that to date, national security and civil liberties have not assumed a leading role when foreign policy is debated, though that could change. "For most people, Iraq is the visible face of the debate," he said. "Terrorism is part of that."

Campaigns' busy out-of-staters stick close to Iowa, Des Moines Register, 12-24

By REID FORGRAVE

You could forgive Orrin Evans' family members if they would be angry this Christmas morning.

Instead of opening presents and eating their yuletide turkey at home in Los Angeles (forecast: sunny, 63 degrees), the parents and younger brother of this 22-year-old field organizer for Barack Obama will spend Christmas in Elkader. The Christmas Day forecast for this northeast Iowa town of 1,500 people? A high of 31, with snow the next day.

But, surprisingly, Evans' family can't wait.

His parents couldn't wait to fly into Chicago Sunday night and drive to Elkader today. They plan to stop at the Edgewood Locker for some Iowa pork and beef, swing by a Hy-Vee Food Store to pick up the Christmas turkey, then roll into the Elkader Bed and Breakfast. They've rented the 1892 Queen Anne Victorian house for nine December days while its owners are on vacation.

"I love that they're coming out, but I'm just so swamped right now," Evans said, between manning phones at the Clayton County campaign office and organizing a wheelchair-accessible van to pick up a disabled woman for caucus night. "I'm thrilled to see them. But I made it clear they have to do their part."

For Evans' parents, their part will include door-knocking for Obama in Iowa towns such as Strawberry Point and St. Olaf.

That's how things will go for many out-of-state political workers this holiday season: a quick Christmas breather, then back to work.

With Iowa's caucuses scheduled nine days after Christmas, many of the political workers who've flooded the state in recent months can't make it home for the holidays. So, like Evans, they're improvising this Christmas.

Two Iowa field directors for Mitt Romney are out of driving distance from their families, but each is making a go of celebrating Christmas in the Midwest.

Hugh Yeomans, a Pennsylvania native, is braving winter weather and driving five hours to spend Christmas Day with his grandparents in Janesville, Wis.

For fellow Romney field director Jill Neunaber, a Georgian, her family's coming to Iowa. Her mother, sibling and two grandparents will jam into Neunaber's Urbandale apartment for tonight and Christmas.

But the family understands it won't be a typical Christmas. Neunaber expects to be tied to her computer most of tonight, and she'll likely return to the office tomorrow after opening presents.

Not all campaign workers will see family this holiday season. But even if they're home for Christmas only in their dreams, a few lonely campaign souls have formed makeshift holiday families, and will fill their holiday with snow and mistletoe and presents under a tree.

Take Jackie Bray, a northeast Iowa field director for Hillary Clinton's campaign. She's originally from Ridgewood, N.J. -- "mall country," she called it -- but moved to Iowa in March for the campaign.

The 25-year-old can't fathom leaving for even a short Christmas at home.

"There's nowhere else I would be this holiday season than Dubuque," Bray said. "Sure, sometimes I miss my family, but I'm thrilled to be in Iowa."

Bray and a dozen campaign colleagues have rented a cabin outside Bellevue, a Mississippi River town south of Dubuque. They're decorating the cabin with Christmas lights. Tonight they plan to have a "secret Santa" gift exchange; Bray is hoping for a nice pair of gloves because she'll constantly be door-knocking between Christmas and the caucuses. Tomorrow, Bray will roast a pork loin -- and likely call her mother repeatedly to ensure she gets the roast just right.

"We're really turning Christmas in Iowa into a home," she said.

A quick trip home is possible for some -- but just barely.

Jon Seaton, John McCain's Iowa director, got married in May, spent a honeymoon in St. Kitts, then moved from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines in July. Luckily, his bride works in politics and understands the sacrifices.

Seaton plans to fly out of Des Moines tonight, spend a quiet Christmas with his wife, then jet back to Iowa on Wednesday morning.

In a similar situation is Dan Leistikow, Iowa communications director for John Edwards' campaign. The Wisconsinite married in May, then moved to Des Moines for the campaign. For Christmas, his wife will travel from Madison to spend the holiday with Leistikow. He expects her to hide his Blackberry so their Christmas stays quiet and uneventful.

Evans, the Los Angelino whose family will spend Christmas week in his adopted home of Elkader, is ensuring his family's Iowa stay will be a working vacation.

Sure, Christmas Day will be idyllic. The owners of the bed and breakfast have decorated the home for the holidays. Greenery lines the ornate oak woodwork. Icicle lights hang from the wraparound porch. A candle dots each window. And a tree in the front parlor is adorned with white lights, silver and glass balls, and silk magnolia blossoms.

But starting bright and early Wednesday morning, Evans will put his parents to work for Obama.

It's a cause they're more than happy to support. Evans' parents both became Obama supporters independent of their son's political workings.

His father -- David Evans, a defense attorney and legal scholar -- will knock on doors and make phone calls on behalf of Obama.

And his mother -- Nan Freitas, an elementary-school teacher -- is planning a post-Christmas party for Obama precinct captains and supporters in Clayton County.

Said Orrin Evans: "It's a thank-you for everyone who has opened up their homes and hearts and supported Obama and accepted me into their community."

Caucus no predictor in primary to follow, Des Moines Register, 12-24

By CHUCK RAASCH

Salem, N.H. - Half a country away, Iowans seem poised to deliver unkind caucus verdicts on Jan. 3 to Republican heavyweights John McCain and Rudy Giuliani - and perhaps severely dent the aura of inevitability that Democrat Hillary Clinton has carried for much of 2007.

But New Hampshire has been notoriously different from its Midwestern sister politically, and there are signs that trend could repeat in 2008. McCain, for instance, is getting a second look in New Hampshire but is essentially conceding Iowa. Mike Huckabee's rise in Iowa has been, at best, a distant echo in New Hampshire.

 "It is always up to the media to judge these expectation things," McCain told reporters after a Dec. 18 speech here. "The people of New Hampshire pay attention to what happened in Iowa, but that isn't usually the determining factor in how they are going to vote."

He's got history behind him.

In 2000, for instance, George W. Bush swept Iowa, but McCain won New Hampshire, making South Carolina the showdown state. Establishment candidate Bob Dole won Iowa in 1996 but lost to Pat Buchanan in New Hampshire when Buchanan declared, "all the peasants are coming with pitchforks" to overthrow the "kings and barons" of the GOP.

But in 2008 the primary and caucuses begin earlier than ever and are closer together on the calendar. Some wonder whether momentum for the Iowa winners - and the lack thereof for Iowa's losers - will have a bigger impact this time.

The two states "are very independent of one another, and a lot of that is because of the process - caucus vs. primary," said Tom Rath, a veteran New Hampshire Republican operative who supports ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In the past, there were at least eight days between the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire's primary. This year, that's down to five days, with one of those days lost to travel time.

"The extent that there was an Iowa bounce before, it (lasted) four or five days," Rath said, adding that "the whole nature of this front-loading" of the campaign calendar "has made everything much more interdependent."

Others are less inclined to think Iowa - where Huckabee has surged among Republicans and Clinton appears to be in a three-way fight with fellow Democrats John Edwards and Barack Obama - will have more impact than in the past.

"I think the influence will be muted at best," said Paul Manuel, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. "People in New Hampshire value this process, and it has an internal logic from that point of view."

Using a baseball metaphor, he said Iowans cheer for the Cardinals, Twins or Cubs, but "it doesn't really matter who Iowa is rooting for, New Hampshire residents will root for the Red Sox."

Compared with Iowa, New Hampshire essentially exists in two states of political reality. The Democratic struggle here is roughly on par with the three-way battle in Iowa between Clinton, Obama and Edwards, a battle also reflected in national polls.

"There is a symmetry among Democrats that we (Republicans) don't have," said Rath, who supported Bush in 2000.

The Republican contest in New Hampshire looks very different from Iowa, and neither follows national poll trends. The one common denominator: Romney is a top-tier contender in both states.

But his principal challenger in Iowa appears at the moment to be Huckabee. In New Hampshire, after losing his front-runner status last summer, McCain has re-emerged as a top contender. His advisers say he will spend a bulk of his time in New Hampshire, with perhaps one trip to Iowa before the caucuses.

Ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has led in GOP national polls for the second half of 2007, is not near the lead in either state. He's trying to survive until the cascade of big-state primaries on Feb. 5, where his name recognition and moderate ideology might help him.

Other candidates, such as ex-Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, also hope to survive for later contests in places they deem more favorable, such as South Carolina on Jan. 19.

In New Hampshire, "you have this very intense McCain-Romney presence which is not present in Iowa," Rath said. "If you were in Iowa, you wouldn't believe McCain was making much of a bounce. If you are in New Hampshire, it's hard to pick up a Huckabee sound."

Some think Huckabee's success with evangelicals in Iowa won't be possible in New Hampshire, where religion and politics form a more volatile mixture.

Others think McCain's chances could be dampened because Obama appears to be winning over New Hampshire independents. They might make up about 40 percent of the vote and can choose to vote in either party's primary in New Hampshire.

A mid-December University of New Hampshire poll had Clinton and Obama in a statistical tie, and attributed much of Obama's rise to independents coming to his side.

"Obama has started to connect his message of 'change' to the independent voters in New Hampshire," said Manuel at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. "They are now leaning towards Obama. Let's see if McCain can get them back."

Des Moines mayor tired of ethanol plant wait, CR Gazette, 12-24

DES MOINES (AP) - The mayor of Des Moines is losing faith in plans for a $210 million ethanol plant planned for the city's southeast side.

  Mayor Frank Cownie said city officials should end plans for the plant unless Vision Fuels Des Moines can nail down financing by Feb. 1.

  "They either need to perform on what they're supposed to be doing, or let's call it a day. I'm sort of toward the latter," Cownie said.

  Plans for the plant are behind schedule because of financing delays, changes in the plant's design and an industry slowdown. Construction is now set to begin in April.

  City officials had hoped the plant would jump-start development in the Agrimergent Technology Park south of the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The plant would be the most expensive project in the city's history.

  Vision Fuels President Dan Cornelison said he's confident the council will remain patient, but he wouldn't comment on the mayor's statements.

  "The council has been very supportive of the project, and we're optimistic that when we bring our financing opportunities to the city of Des Moines that we're going to have the full support of everybody," Cornelison said.

  Cornelison also stood by the Feb. 1 deadline.

  Cownie said the city should wait to seek other proposals for the land until after Feb. 1.

  City Manager Rick Clark said delays in the ethanol plant project haven't cost taxpayers, but he acknowledged being worried.

  "I think it would be disingenuous of me to say I'm not concerned," he said.

Maytag closure top Iowa story, CR Gazette, 12-24

DES MOINES (AP) - The end of an iconic Iowa company topped the list of news stories in 2007, ahead of topics ranging from the Iowa caucuses to a brief period when same-sex marriage was legal in Iowa's most populous county.

  The October closure of Newton-based Maytag was ranked the most important story in voting by Associated Press member newspapers and broadcasters.

  Whirlpool Corp. bought Maytag last year and quickly decided to shutter the factory and corporate headquarters of a company that at its peak had 4,000 workers in Newton. The closure came 100 years after Fred Maytag first began building wooden tub washing machines at a company that was then known for manufacturing farm implements.

  Another Iowa tradition finished second in voting - the precinct caucuses.

  The wide-open races for the Republican and Democratic nominations led to extended and costly campaigning for the Jan. 3 caucuses. More than a dozen candidates spent millions of dollars campaigning in the state, and many seemed to establish residency on Iowa - Democrat Chris Dodd even moved his family to a Des Moines home.

  Some wondered if moves by other states to schedule earlier primaries would dilute Iowa's influence, but the opposite appeared true, especially for Democratic candidates who saw the state as the best opportunity to derail the efforts of national front-runner Hillary Clinton.

  In third place was the ethanol boom. Iowa has about 30 ethanol refineries with another two dozen under construction, and the demand has led to strong corn prices that prompted a record harvest in Iowa - an estimated 2.44 billion bushels.

  Iowa produces almost onethird of the nation's ethanol, and the industry has been credited with revitalizing some of the state's rural areas. Critics note, however, that each plant has relatively few jobs, that demand for corn could raise the price of animal feed and that questions remain about the efficiency of using ethanol.

  The CIETC scandal was the top story of 2006 and remained a hot topic this year, with voters ranking it fourth. In some ways, the story about high salaries at a Des Moines-based job-training agency became even more unusual with the lawyer for Ramona Cunningham, the former CEO of the Central Iowa Employment and Training Consortium, claiming that his client had attempted suicide and wasn't competent to stand trial.

  Besides Cunningham, three others face charges in the case. Also, former CIETC Chairman Archie Brooks pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misapply federal funds and misapplication of federal funds, and former chief operating officer John Bargman pleaded guilty to fraud.

  The fifth-ranked story was the swearing-in of Democrat Chet Culver as Iowa's 40th governor. Culver largely set the agenda for the 2007 legislative session and has touted the passage of a teacher salary increase, creation of a fund to finance alternative energy projects and a $1-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax.

  During 2007, 13 Iowa sol diers were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. AP members ranked the continued loss of life in those nations as the sixth-placed news story. The Iraq war began in March 2003, and the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in late 2001.

  In seventh place was a Polk County judge's decision in August that struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The judge quickly stayed his ruling while it's under appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court, but not before two men from Ames were hastily married on the front yard of a Des Moines pastor's home.

  The selection of Sally Mason as the 20th president of the University of Iowa was the eighth-ranked story. Her selection in June came after a controversial process marked by secrecy and the rejection by the Board of Regents of four earlier finalists. Mason previously was a biology professor and provost at Purdue University.

  The ninth-ranked story was the conviction and sentencing of Shawn Bentler to five life terms for the October 2006 killing of his parents and three sisters at the family's home near Bonaparte.

  In the final spot was the story of Iowans shelling out big bucks for gasoline. The cost has topped $3 at times during the year but most recently has dipped below that level. Although higher costs were most obvious to motorists, rising oil prices also were a headache for Iowans worried about home heating bills.

Candidates try not to wear out their welcome, Omaha World Herald, 12-24

BY ELIZABETH AHLIN

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

DENISON, Iowa - Christmas carols and candidates. Mistletoe and campaign mailers.

For the most part, Iowans aren't complaining about the near-collision between the holidays and the caucuses. Democratic candidate John Edwards drew a crowd Saturday in Lisbon.Ah, the yuletide in Iowa.

The patience of Iowans could be tested over the next 10 days as political advertising, phone calls and candidate appearances temper the holiday cheer.

To preserve Iowa's coveted position as the nation's first presidential test, party officials voted to hold the caucuses on Jan. 3 - the earliest ever - and just on the heels of Christmas and New Year's celebrations.

Presidential hopefuls will try to walk a line between wooing caucusgoers and being overbearing.

Some candidates have already tried to strike a positive tone with Christmas-themed television ads.

Republican Mike Huckabee wants Iowans to remember what really matters during the holidays, namely, "the birth of Jesus Christ and being with friends and family."

In another ad, Democrat Barack Obama thanks Iowans for their hospitality and reminds them, "We all have a stake in each other, in something larger than ourselves."

What they don't want is for caucusgoers to forget them during the frantic week from Christmas to New Year's Day.

These holiday caucuses pose a dilemma for candidates who may not feel comfortable walking away from the campaign for a few days, even if it is Christmas, said Mary Tiffany, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Republican Party.

Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, a Democrat, doesn't plan to leave.

He'll finish a 12-day tour of the state in Carroll on Christmas Eve morning. In the evening, he plans to help pack and ship holiday boxes for American troops overseas.

After one day off for a family Christmas in Des Moines, Dodd will be back on the campaign trail Wednesday.

If Iowans are worried about the caucuses edging out Christmas, they're not showing it.

"If a person has an interest in politics, it really doesn't make a difference," said Barb Preul of Denison.

For some, the near-collision of the holidays and the caucuses will make family gatherings ideal opportunities to recruit.

Agnes Gaul of Harlan has diligently clipped newspaper articles detailing the candidates' positions on the big issues.

She has them in alphabetical order and plans to show them to her five children, their spouses and her 18 grandchildren over the holidays.

She hopes they will stop at "B" for Joe Biden, who is Gaul's first choice.

"They know where I stand," Gaul said with a mischievous smile.

Advertising will make its way to Iowans' homes through television and the mail, but it probably won't be controversial.

"I'd be shocked if you're going to see anything negative on Christmas Day," Tiffany said.

Usually, the advertising cycle has moved past attack ads by the week or so before the caucuses, said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University.

"At the end, you're typically pulling out the positive ads again and asking for people's support," she said.

There is a small window of time, perhaps Dec. 28 to 30, when attack ads could be palatable, she said, but airing them close to the holidays is dicey.

"Who wants to see a negative ad in the middle of "It's a Wonderful Life"? It's just a bigger risk," Bystrom said.

Bonnie Waters of Council Bluffs isn't bothered by the ads, but she's growing tired of the phone calls from pollsters and campaigns that she receives nearly every night.

"I sure wish my phone would quit ringing in the evenings," Waters said.

Denise Montgomery of Neola is a devoted Republican and caucusgoer. She likes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, she wants to hear more from Fred Thompson and she doesn't care if that infringes on Christmas.

"I want to hear all the things they want to say," Montgomery said.

Candidates are counting on that sentiment as they move into the final stretch before the caucuses. Nobody wants to be the Grinch who ruined Christmas.

"Folks are getting ready to host their families and they're getting presents," said Tim Albrecht, a Romney spokesman.

"But I think Iowa is a place where they take these issues seriously. They take the candidates seriously. I think the topic of the presidential election will be brought up at dinner tables around the state on Christmas."

Presidential candidate pick: Iowans preparing for Jan. 3 caucuses, Quad Cities Online

By Rita Pearson, [email-masked] 

The Iowa Caucus is a time-honored process of political party members gathering to make policy decisions and select candidates to run for U.S. president. 

The 2008 Iowa Caucuses will be held Jan. 3, 2008 at 1,784 Iowa precincts. 

The Iowa Democratic Party and Republican Party of Iowa select each precinct caucus location. See their Web sites (www.iowademocrats.org or www.iowagop.org) or the Scott County Auditor's Precinct Site Web site. Guests are welcome to observe the process. 

The following question and answer was based on responses from Scott County Democratic chairwoman Susan Frembgen, the Iowa Caucus 2008 at www.IowaCaucus.org and several other Web sites, including the free encyclopedia, Wikipedia. 

Attempts to reach Scott County Republican Chairman Bryan Sievers were unsuccessful. 

Q: What is a caucus? 

A: A neighborhood gathering, where people come together with ideas, Ms. Frembgen said. She said it's the birth of the democratic process, a party-building activity. It's the beginning of the presidential nominating process. 

Q: Who's eligible to participate? 

A: Any Iowa resident who will be 18 by election day on Nov. 4, 2008. Participants can register to vote on the spot, and will be registered with the political party of the caucus they attend. 

Q: Why caucus, instead of an election? 

A: The caucus started before Iowa became a state in 1846. The state's founding fathers chose the caucus over primary elections as a grassroots, democracy-in-action process. Its purpose is to nominate candidates, to begin building a political party platform and to organize or build the political party. 

Q: How do the caucuses work? 

A: Iowans gather by party preference in their designated precinct location. Scott County has 63 precincts and 350 delegates. (Each precinct in Scott County has one to nine delegates.) 

There are subtle differences in the way Democrats and Republicans conduct their caucuses. Republicans have the simpler process. They select a candidate by secret ballot on a blank sheet of paper, after listening to some campaigning for each candidate by caucus participants. 

Leadership in the Republican Party of Iowa tabulates and reports the results from each precinct to the state party. Delegates from the precinct caucuses go on the county conventions, which choose delegates to the district convention, which in turn selects delegates to the state convention. 

The Democrats divide their delegate seats among the candidates in the precincts in proportion to the caucus participants' votes. There can be up to two rounds in this divisive process, each up to 30 minutes long. 

In the first round, people support a candidate that most inspires them, Ms. Frembgen said, even those who dropped out of the race, such as former governor Tom Vilsack. She said Scott County Dems are likely to support Vilsack in the first round and then likely will join another interest group in the second round. 

The second round is all about negotiating and forming viable groups, she said. Once these groups are formed, then it's a matter of math to determine the number of delegates chosen. 

Q: How are the votes counted? 

A: In precincts that elect only one delegate, participants cast a paper ballot. Whoever gets 50 percent plus one vote gets the delegate. 

In Democratic precincts with two delegates, the winning candidate needs 25 percent of the votes cast. In precincts with three delegates, the winning candidate needs 16.666 percent of the votes cast. If four or more delegates, the winning candidate needs 15 percent of the total preference. 

Each Democratic precinct determines who its delegate will be. By default, anyone who participates in the caucus is considered an alternate delegate. 

Q: Who presides over the votes? 

A: A precinct chairman presides over each caucus. The chairman is responsible for reporting the outcome to the state (Des Moines) and to the county. 

Q: How does one win? 

A: The candidate with the most delegates statewide wins. 

Q: Where are the Iowa Caucuses held? 

A: Each political party hosts its own party caucus in a location of the party's choosing, typically churches, schools, public buildings, or private homes. The Scott County Democrats have chosen locations in the precincts, closest to peoples' homes, Ms. Frembgen said. 

The Scott County Republicans have chosen central locations with assigned rooms for each precinct. Sometimes Democrats and Republicans caucus in the same building, but in separate rooms. 

Although the Iowa caucuses begin at 7 p.m., Democratic precinct doors in Scott County will open at 6 p.m. for registration. Those who are not registered to vote are encouraged to bring a voter registration form pre-filled out to speed up the registration process. 

Future dates: 

Democratic Party 

March 15, 2008: The Scott County Convention for the Democratic Party at the Clarion Hotel, downtown Davenport. 

April 26, 2008: The District Convention for the Democratic Party, location to be determined. 

June 14, 2008: The Democratic Party State Convention in Des Moines. 

Aug. 25-28: The Democratic party National Convention in Denver. 

Republican Party of Iowa 

March 1, 2008: Scott County Convention (tentative), location to be determined. 

April 26, 2008: District Convention (tentative), location to be determined. 

June 14, 2008: Iowa State Convention (tentative), location to be determined. 

Sept. 1-4, 2008: Republican National Convention, Minneapolis-St. Paul 

Obama says Edwards is putting up with the very campaign tactics he decries, Quad Cities Online, 12-23 

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) -- Democrat Barack Obama criticized John Edwards on Saturday as an unconvincing populist who passed up chances in the Senate to curb the power of lobbyists and is tolerating presidential campaign tactics that he claims to oppose. 

As an example, Obama pointed to a nearly $800,000 advertising campaign being launched for Iowa voters by Alliance for a New America, a labor-affiliated group that is independent of the Edwards campaign but supportive of him. Such "527" organizations can raise unlimited amounts of money for ads that frame the debate in ways favorable to a candidate without directly advocating how voters should cast their ballots. 

"John said yesterday, he didn't believe in these 527s," Obama said. "You can't say yesterday, you don't believe in it and today three-quarters of a million dollars is being spent for you. You can't just talk the talk. Everybody talks change, but how did they act when it was not convenient, when it's hard?" 

Edwards said in response that he didn't know anything about the ad buy and has no say in it. 

"The way the law operates is we're not allowed to be involved in this -- the campaign's not allowed to be involved, I'm not allowed to be involved," Edwards told reporters after a campaign stop Saturday in Lisbon, Iowa. "I found out about this probably after most of you did through the news media." 

He said after campaigning in Coralville, "I would prefer that all the 527s -- not just this one -- that all the 527s stay out of Iowa." 

Several presidential candidates in both parties are benefiting and taking hits from independent groups that are only now beginning to make their presence known in the early contest states of Iowa and New Hampshire. These groups can be more targeted and more negative and can coordinate their activities in ways that candidate campaigns cannot. 

Former Edwards advisers Nick Baldick and Jeff Link have been advising labor-backed groups that are putting up hundreds of thousands of dollars in issue ads supportive of Edwards. Obama says these efforts amount to "huge, unregulated contributions from special interests" of the kind Edwards talks about bringing under control. 

"I've got a track record," Obama said of restraining special interests. "I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk." 

He said that "when we actually had a chance to do something about it, I did something and John didn't" during Edwards' six years as a North Carolina senator. 

Edwards attributed the Illinois senator's criticisms to concern about the Iowa race. 

"I guess he's seeing the same thing on the ground that we're seeing here, which is why he's started talking about me, which is that we're moving," Edwards said. 

Opening his latest Iowa swing, Obama coped later in the day with a driving snowstorm that reduced his motorcade to a crawl on treacherous highways. Still, more than 200 people came to a high school in Winterset to hear his pitch, and one sang him a song. 

Late in the day, another 300 braved the wintry weather at a suburban Des Moines school to hear Obama's pitch, a sure sign they are the kind of activists likely to show up on a frigid night next month for precinct caucuses. When asked, virtually all raised their hands to indicate they planned to attend. 

"You're here tonight, you're pretty committed," said Obama. "Thank you for braving this weather." 

Edwards has generally lagged slightly behind Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in polls of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, although the three-way race is considered tight. 

Obama also gave special emphasis Saturday to trade and its impact on workers, which has been a big part of Edwards' campaign. 

On the stump and in new television commercials, Obama called for more training and health coverage for workers whose jobs are shipped overseas. 

"We're not going to stop globalization in its track, but what we can do is have a president who's standing up for American farmers and workers," Obama told about 300 people in a middle school gymnasium. 

Obama also began broadcasting a commercial in Iowa titled "Enough," in which he says he would end tax breaks for companies sending jobs abroad. 

"When I'm president we'll give you training before you lose your job if there's a good chance it will get shipped overseas," he said. "We'll give you an education account that you can use to retrain." 

Campaigns exploit all electronic channels, Burlington Hawk Eye, 12-23

By DAVE HELLING

McClatchy Newspapers

DES MOINES -- Iowa is in the middle of a raging storm this winter.

There's been plenty of snow, but this storm is electronic: a blizzard of e-mails, text messages, instant messages, videos, talking heads, audio clips, social networks and urgent demands for your money, your help, your attendance and support, all on your phone, in your computer, on your TV screen.

Presidential candidates are generating this binary whiteout, determined to use 21st-century technology to gain an edge, particularly with young voters, in the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Is it working?

Irl, idk. :/ Sry.

(Translation for those over 30: In real life, I don't know. Uneasy face. Sorry.)

"I think it'll have some effect," said Democratic candidate Sen. Joseph Biden, who's listed on his MySpace page as "Male. 65 years old. Wilmington, Delaware."

"But," Biden adds, "the answer is, I don't know."

"We're in uncharted territory," said Jen Psaki, who helps coordinate alternative media for the Barack Obama campaign. "We won't probably know until this is all said and done."

That uncertainty hasn't stopped the Obama campaign, or all the others, from at least trying every new technology available. Web sites, with video, are a given. In addition, campaigns have pages on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook; they send blast e-mails directly to cell phones and other devices; and they use various Web addresses to set up house parties, meet-ups and mash-ups, and most of all, to raise money.

The young voters who are the target of all this say thx, but plz, ur working 2 hard.

"I talk about the campaign with my friends, but it's mostly just when we get together, talking face-to-face," said John Yost, a 21-year old student at Iowa State University who likes Republican candidate Mike Huckabee. "It's not so much texting or things like that."

"I don't get any of that (text messages), other than random e-mails from all these candidates," said Iowa State student Chris Dencklau, a Biden man.

But campaigns say getting like-minded students together, through texting or instant messaging, is worth the effort.

"It has been a way for people to connect, at colleges and universities, by saying, 'I like Barack Obama, you like Barack Obama -- when's your next meeting?' " Psaki said.

And, campaigns point out, Web sites and text-messaging programs are much cheaper than TV ads, which still dominate local television.

Young voters in Iowa see those commercials, but they say -- almost to a person -- they no longer rely on traditional media such as local television or newspapers as their sole source of political news.

Instead, they watch political videos on the Web. They try to catch an occasional cable news show or debate. And all lament the disappearance of new episodes of topical, late-night satire shows.

"Up until the writers' strike, 'The Daily Show' and Stephen Colbert were doing a pretty good job keeping us informed," Day said.

"I think a lot of them are looking at YouTube," said 18-year-old Carrie Dencklau.

"They (students) get their information from TV but not from the networks," said Tim McDaniel, a professor at Buena Vista University near Storm Lake, Iowa.

But the networks and other so-called mainstream media haven't gone away. Like campaigns, they're using electronics to communicate: The Des Moines Register's Web site, for example, includes videos, campaign schedules, candidate profiles, breaking news updates and other caucus information.

But much of the information generated by mainstream reporters still ends up in mainstream publications, which are still read by many Iowans -- particularly those most likely to caucus.

That means people older than 30, haha, lol (laugh out loud).

"It's always hard, in a general election, let alone a caucus, to get younger people engaged," Biden said. "Up to now, the average age of the caucusgoer, I'm told, is something like 60, 61. ... We'll see."

Ttyl. (Talk to you later.)

The caucuses are almost upon us, Ft. Dodge Messenger, 12-23

Still confused about how the process? Here's some help

By BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer POSTED: December 23, 2007 Save | Print | Email | Read comments | Post a comment 

Email: "The caucuses are almost upon us"  

*To:   <--TO Email REQUIRED! 

*From:   <--FROM Email REQUIRED! 

 

Fact Box

Who can caucus?

* All citizens can caucus as long as they sign a voter registration card attesting to residency in the precinct and show that they'll be 18 in time for the general election.

* While you may not be affiliated with a political party, you can register with the Democratic or Republican party for the night. 

* Those not registered to vote can register that night.

What's the purpose of caucusing?

* To elect delegates, alternates and committee members to the county convention.

* Discuss and adopt resolutions to be recommended to the county platform committee.

* Elect new leaders for the precinct who will serve as members of the county central committee.

Where are caucus sites?

* Caucus participants must caucus in their precinct.

* See caucus locations at www.messengernews.net 

Article PDFs

How it works

  Some of the people who want to be president began trying to impress Iowans more than a year ago, and with each passing week more candidates have flooded into the state, crisscrossing Webster County in search of votes.

In about two weeks, local voters will file into schools and other gathering places to pronounce their judgment on the candidates. What exactly happens at these Iowa caucuses? What can a new Iowa voter expect Jan. 3?

The caucuses combine the give-and-take of a bull session at the local coffee shop with the time-honored process of voting. 

And they're fun, according to local activists.

''Come with a lot of enthusiasm and be prepared to have fun,'' said Roger Huetig, a Republican activist from Badger. ''If you like politics you're going to have fun.''

That's a bipartisan attitude.

''Personally, I like the process,'' said Ed O'Leary, a Fort Dodge Democrat who has participated in caucuses since 1972. ''I enjoy the interaction between neighbors and friends. I think people enjoy it once they feel more comfortable with the process.''

Repeat caucusgoers like O'Leary will be joined by newcomers such as Logan Villhauer, of Rockwell City.

Villhauer, a Democrat who will caucus for Barack Obama, said he's seen the senator three times.

He views Iowa's first-in-the-nation status as very important because ''we're the first to show what people are actually thinking.''

''I'm really excited because I'm really into politics,'' Villhauer said. ''Now, since I'm 18, I can go and make my voice heard.''

But even those who aren't yet 18 can caucus, as long as they'll be of age in time for the general election.

 

The Democratic caucus

The Democrats' way of doing caucus business is a bit more complex than the Republican method. It revolves around using preference groups to pick delegates who are tied to presidential candidates.

Webster County Democrats will gather at 29 locations, including schools, churches and a tornado shelter on Jan. 3. At each spot, party leaders will begin checking people in at about 6:30 p.m. 

But O'Leary said people are encouraged to come early. He said the caucus will start at 7 p.m., but people who are still in line waiting to check in at that time can still participate.

A veteran party activist will serve as a temporary chairman to get the caucus started in each location. Often, the temporary chairman is elected to be permanent chairman by a unanimous vote. Then the chairman quickly disposes of some routine party business, such as presenting letters from the state Democratic Party leadership.

After that, a count of everybody in attendance is done. That number is key to the process.

The people at each caucus site will then be asked to divide into presidential preference groups. That means all the Obama supporters will go and stand together in one place, while the Hillary Clinton supporters go to another place, and the John Edwards backers will congregate in a third place. Especially in bigger precincts, there may be clusters of people for every candidate in the race scattered around the caucus site.

The people in each grouping count off. The number of people in a group must equal 15 percent or more of the total number in attendance at that site or it won't count in the final selection of delegates.

If a group doesn't meet that threshold, its members can move to another one.

''That's why second choice is so important,'' O'Leary said. ''It can make a candidate.''

After some people have moved around and changed groups, each caucus site should be filled only with presidential preference groups that meet the 15 percent threshold.

At that point the caucus chairmen will do a little algebra to determine how many delegates each presidential candidate will get from each caucus site.

According to O'Leary, the formula for determining the number of delegates is:

The number of people in the group multiplied by the number of delegates the precinct is entitled to, divided by the total number of people at the caucus site.

After the math is done, a representative of each presidential preference group is asked to check the total and the results are called in to state party headquarters.

The presidential selection is the highlight of the caucus, but there will be some other business to do that night. O'Leary said representatives to the party's platform committee and members of the county central committee will be elected. Written resolutions to be considered for the party platform will also be accepted. O'Leary said those resolutions are forwarded to the party's county convention without debate.

 

The Republican caucus 

A secret ballot is at the heart of the Republican caucus, which has more of the feel of a general election.

''Ours is very simple,'' Huetig said. ''We just have a vote.''

The Fort Dodge Senior High School, 819 N. 25th St., is the caucus site for all Webster County Republicans.

A temporary chairman will get things started. Usually, that temporary chairman is elected to be the permanent one.

After a general assembly, at which the ground rules are explained, caucusgoers gather in small groups according to the precinct they live in. Residents of larger precincts in Fort Dodge may go to a classroom, while residents of smaller rural precincts may huddle around a table in the cafeteria.

At each precinct gathering, ballots bearing the names of Republican presidential candidates are passed out. 

After everyone has marked their ballot, the ballots are collected and counted. The results are reported to state party leaders.

Later, the caucusgoers will elect representatives to the county convention. Resolutions to be considered for possible inclusion in the party's platform will be collected. But Huetig said the big debates happen at the county convention, not the caucus.

 

Caucus education

Presidential campaigns have been trying to explain away the caucus mystery in an effort to attract potential supporters.

Clinton has produced a video starring her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to explain the caucus process and campaign officials hope up to 50,000 people eventually see it. Obama has launched a caucus pros program in which seniors and other longtime participants help newcomers know what to expect.

Republican Rudy Giuliani's campaign has held training sessions around the state, led by prominent folks like former pro football quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who played for the Minnesota Vikings.

Caucus helpers, The Ames Tribune, 12-23

By: Bob Zientara and William Dillon/The Tribune 

Every few years, presidential candidates and members of their hired staff descend on Iowa to run multi-million dollar campaigns in preparation for the state's first-in-the-nation caucus. 

But a lot of what the candidates accomplish here in the state depends on the work of full-time Iowans who believe so much in the candidate's message, they go beyond just caucusing. They volunteer. 

The Tribune takes you inside the minds and stories of some of these volunteers, offering insight into what drives them to volunteer and a few of the successes and speed bumps they've experienced along the way. 

 

Jacob Bofferding

* Occupation: A junior at Iowa State University majoring in advertising and marketing.

* Volunteering for: Ron Paul.

* Why is he volunteering? Bofferding's steadfast support for the Texas congressman began in May when he witnessed the then little-known candidate tussle with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani during a nationally-televised debate.

"I knew right then I had to look into this guy," he said.

Bofferding started a Facebook.com group for ISU students that later advanced into a bona fide campus organization.

* Why this candidate? "Foreign policy. I would say that is the biggest attraction for most of his supporters. He's the only one who really has the guts to stand up to what is becoming an American empire. It's basically the opposite of what we were founded on and our earlier history."

* Hours worked per week: A lot of his little free time.

* Tasks: Creating and maintaining the Web site www. CaucusForPaul.com, handing out fliers, chalking campus, being president of the Ron Paul student organization at ISU, writing letters to the editor, sending out mailings, making phone calls.

Jacob Bofferding is excited a guy like Ron Paul is in the 2008 race for president. 

 

Bofferding, a life-long conservative and student at Iowa State University, such as Paul's record on taxes and spending. He, like many other Paul supporters, is very attracted to the Texas congressman's vision for foreign policy change. And he likes that Paul will put himself out there with ideas that don't meet the status quo of modern-day politics.

"The one reason why I love Ron Paul and can talk so feverishly about him is because he runs an intellectual campaign," Bofferding said. "It's not based on the usual talking points of abortion or gay marriage or 'no war," but it's way deeper than that like when he talks about the root causes of terrorism and why we were attacked on Sept. 11.

"It's political suicide, so that's why people like him."

Getting the word out about Paul has not always been so easy, though. Bofferding quickly realized that not everyone wants to hear about Paul and politics.

"The football games were a disaster," Bofferding said. "People were out drinking, and they don't want to be talked to about anything.

"We didn't even mention Ron Paul's name when trying to hand them a flier with candy on it ... they just said 'No.'"

The few people they did get to utter a few words back in their direction sent mixed messages to Bofferding and his fellow Paul volunteers.

"We had some people that would say, 'Anything for the Ron Paul Revolution,' while others would go, 'No, no, I'm a Democrat,' or, 'No, no, I'm a Republican,' which is funny," he said.

"The football games were the worst of anything we tried. We only did it twice and then gave up after that."

But with the bad also has come the good. Paul was met by an energized crowd of more than 500 people during a stop at the ISU Memorial Union in October. It was an event that campaign staff initially planned to draw about 200 people.

Bofferding, who helped lead the organization for the event, said he reserved a room that could seat about 600 people just in case.

They then handed out leaflets in dining halls, peppered campus with fliers and chalked sidewalks.

"You could not walk anywhere and not see that he was coming," Bofferding said. "My friends would come back to the apartment and say 'I saw Ron Paul's name like 100 times today.'"

One of the biggest advantages, Bofferding said, was creating an event announcement on the social networking Web site Facebook.com. He called upon members of the campus Ron Paul group to send the event invitation to each of their friends on Facebook "regardless of whether they were Ron Paul supporters, haters or apathetic."

"I was worried going up to it, because I didn't want it to just fall flat, but when that many people showed up, it wasn't surprising," Bofferding said.

He is back home now in Rochester, Minn., for his holiday break from school, but come Jan. 3, Bofferding will be back in town.

"I'm driving a van down with other people that go to Iowa State that live in Rochester," Bofferding said. "We are going to caucus and then drive back up that next morning." 

He's bringing down five friends for sure, and, as expected, all will be caucusing for Paul.

 

Beth Sermet 

* Occupation: Co-owner of The Right Pipe, an import business that deals in products for pipe and cigar smokers. 

* Volunteering for: Chris Dodd. 

* Why are you volunteering? "I think voters have to get involved and learn about the responsibilities of voting. The Constitution used to limit the franchise to the landed gentry - men who owned property. At the time, they thought that you needed a formal education so that you could vote. Now, everyone can vote, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't educate yourself." 

* Why this candidate? "I figure we need a senator for president. It's been awhile since we had one. They know how to work with Congress. Around Labor Day, I watched a Democratic candidate debate. Chris Dodd spoke there, and I'm like, 'Wow, he really tells it like it is. He's concise, candid and hits the nail on the head. I need to check out this guy some more.'" 

* Hours worked per week: Two hours, usually in the evenings. 

* Tasks: Telephone calls, doing mailings. 

 

Beth Sermet knows Iowa's motto by heart. 

"It says, 'Our freedoms we prize, our rights we will maintain,'" she said. 

Sermet "walks the talk" when it comes to being an Iowan. She's been working for presidential candidate Chris Dodd since early September. 

When she heard Dodd speak, Sermet found herself agreeing with his positions. 

"I liked his stand on a guaranteed 14 years of education - that the standard 12 years is long past," she said. "I liked what he said about health care, the environment, the corporate carbon tax and what he said about the war in Iraq and our absence from the peace process." 

Sermet said she also was acquainted with Dodd through a book he wrote about his father, the late Sen. Tom Dodd, who served as one of the chief prosecutors during the Nuremburg trials of accused Nazi World War II criminals. 

A couple days after the debate, Sermet volunteered to work the phones at Dodd's Ames headquarters. 

"I make calls in Precinct 21, where I live - near the high school and south of 13th Street," she said. "Just about everyone I talk to says they've already decided, but the undecideds are encouraging. They're very knowledgeable." 

Sermet has two grown children, so she doesn't have family obligations competing for her time. But she and her husband, Samil (who also works for the Iowa Department of Transportation) operate a wholesale business that imports handmade Turkish meerschaum and European briar pipes. 

"From Sept. 1 through mid-December is the high season for us," Sermet said. "The retailers want us to get the stock into their stores." 

Still, a sense of civic duty and a liking for Dodd persuaded Sermet to add volunteer work to her schedule. 

"I think we'll all win if Dodd gets elected," she said. "I like how he doesn't say anything demeaning about the other candidates. And he's emotional about things - not just a wonk." 

 

Bob and Loretta Parker 

* Occupation: Bob Parker, retired; Loretta Parker, secretary of the Story County Republican Committee. 

* Volunteering for: Mike Huckabee. 

* Why are you volunteering? "It's just more fun that anything," Bob said. 

"It's the first time we have really gone out to work for a presidential candidate," Loretta said. 

* Why this candidate? 

"We are proud of him," Bob said. "He is what he is, and he has always been that. He's wholesome. He has character. We're glad to know him, even if he wasn't running for office. We think he can speak well enough and think well enough to bring the country together rather than separate." 

"We like his character," Loretta said. "I am always so impressed whenever there is a debate; he was always looking directly at the person speaking. ... He cares about what everyone thinks, and he is really listening." 

* Hours worked per week: For Bob, up to six hours a day during the past few weeks. 

* Tasks: Organizing events, cultivating Huckabee supporters in Story County, creating postcards, housing staff. 

 

Bob Parker works the room like a veteran politician, shaking hands, his face donning a constant smile. There is a clear sense of happiness in his voice. 

For nearly nine months, Parker has been a supporter of Mike Huckabee. He's seen his candidate go from near obscurity in most parts of Iowa to the state's Republican front-runner in the race for the White House in 2008. A steady stream of about 300 people fill the meeting room reserved at Gateway Hotel and Conference Center Wednesday night for an appearance by the former governor himself, introduced by Bob Vander Plaats, his Iowa campaign chairman, a man Parker calls "another stand-up guy himself." 

Parker and his wife, Loretta, rarely seem to make contact with each other before the event. The Story City couple, as co-chairs of Huckabee's campaign in Story County, is busy making sure everything is going according to plan in this event they helped organize. 

The Parkers said they have always voted, caucused most years, but have never backed a candidate quite like they are backing Huckabee. 

It's his character, Bob said, and his seeming "desire to bring the country together rather than drive it apart," behind their first really heavy push for a presidential candidate. 

They've been volunteering for Huckabee since April following a visit by the former governor to a golf course in Ames. 

Since that time, they have been out canvassing for their candidate, organizing events and even opening their home for extended stays by campaign staffers during their brief stints in Iowa. 

"All these people are just good people," Bob said. "There are no stinkers in the batch." 

The next couple days will be spent with some last-minute Christmas shopping and spending the holiday with family, but come Dec. 26, there is a lot of work to get done, Loretta said. 

"Right after Christmas, we will get in really strong," she said. "We have a lot of things to do." 

That list includes helping to send out campaign postcards and contacting people to make sure they will be caucusing for Huckabee on Jan. 3. 

"We've had so many people call us and say, 'I'm sorry I can't come to the event Wednesday, but I will be at the caucus. I have not been involved, I have never been to a caucus before, but I am coming to a caucus and we are 

"And that's a call at a quarter to eleven at night. Even I don't call anybody at that time," Loretta said with a laugh. "But I am glad that he called. I was happy." 

 

Kevin Arritt 

* Occupation: Ames High School student. 

* Volunteering for: Bill Richardson. 

* Why are you volunteering? 

"I asked my 'extended learning' adviser if I could do a political internship and get (school) credit for it." 

* Why this candidate? 

"I went to a summer workshop at Iowa State (University). I liked the things Richardson's field person said about him. And the more I read about Richardson's positions, the more I felt he was 'my' candidate." 

* Hours worked per week: 15. 

* Tasks: Mailing, telephone calls, staffing political events. 

Bundled up against a late-December afternoon wind, Kevin Arritt headed into downtown Ames with Meredith Anselman, another local volunteer. Each carried a sheaf of blue flyers, advertising Dec. 21 campaign appearance in Ames by New Mexico Democrat Bill Richardson. 

"In a way, I'm glad I picked this year" to work as a campaign volunteer, said Arritt, as he trudged up Douglas Avenue toward Ames Public Library. "Next year, I'll be a senior, and I'll be busy looking at colleges. This year, I'm a junior, and I have time." 

Three weeks worth of time, in fact, as Arritt had just begun the long holiday break from school. 

He said he'd prefer not to have to do campaign work during the holidays, but because the Iowa caucuses had moved up to Jan. 3, there wasn't much choice. 

Still, he's not sorry he volunteered, Arritt said. 

"I've been making a lot of telephone calls from Richardson's headquarters," said Arritt, who puts in 15 hours a week - much of it at the Welch Avenue offices for the Richardson campaign. 

"People are a lot kinder than I thought they'd be," he said. "But that was earlier in the campaign. Now, some of them will tell me, 'you're the fourth person to call tonight!'" 

After studying up on the candidates, Arritt picked Richardson, especially after he went to a political workshop at the Iowa State University campus. But his own experiences have reinforced his support for the candidate. 

"My teachers keep telling me that No Child Left Behind has damaged the curriculum and makes things really hard for them," Arritt said. "And Richardson wants to end 'No Child.'" 

Arritt headed into a couple of Main Street businesses and asked if he could put up flyers. People at both stores politely said 'No.'" 

Arritt said he wasn't surprised. 

"Not too many businesses want to have political stuff on the wall," he said. "We are more likely to get permission at businesses that are closer to the Iowa State campus." 

Finally, at the Hy-Vee Drug Store, Arritt got permission to put up a flyer on the bulletin board near the main entrance. 

Arritt said he's learned a lot during the more than four months that he's been working for Richardson. 

"I wouldn't say that I didn't expect to find out the things that I did, but it's still been pretty interesting," he said. "I won't be able to caucus this year, but I've been telling my older classmates that if they turn 18 between now and the election, they can go to the caucuses." 

LTE: We need more than a manager - we need a leader, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Regarding the Register's Dec. 16 endorsements: Competence? A mere ability to do the job? Perhaps the current administration has lowered our expectations for the necessary qualities in a president, but to say that we ought to aim for mere competence in a president is a sad comment on what we've grown to expect (or fear). We shouldn't be looking for the bare minimum qualifications in a president, but for our greatest aspirations. And if our greatest aspiration is mere competence, then we are in worse shape than I thought. We should be aspiring to having a president with vision, a president who can lead the nation, not simply manage it.

Good managers are important but a visionary leader sets the tone, takes advantage of the promise that's been overlooked, allows a nation to become what it really can be.

Managing a nation is tolerable when things are going well and everyone is pleased with our direction. Leadership and vision is what is needed now; we need someone who can push us to dream of what we can be and then take us there.

- Jennifer McCrickerd, Des Moines.

LTE: Let the voters, not the media, pick candidates, Des Moines Register, 12-24

The trend of newspapers endorsing presidential candidates has got to stop. A newspaper's job is to present news stories to the public through an unbiased lens.

It would be a different story if just the newspaper's opinion writers endorsed a candidate, but the trend of the paper itself endorsing candidates leads the news media down a slippery slope that Fox News has already covered with baby oil.

The Des Moines Register needs to get back to its job of informing the public of a candidate's stance on issues and letting voters decide for themselves who the best candidate is.

- Brett Campbell, Cherokee.

LTE: Republican or Democrat won't bring change, CR Gazette, 12-24

Thank you for the hilarious juxtaposing of the two letters (Dec. 12) that: a) revealed the Democratic plan to "tax us to socialism;" and b) decried the Republicans for "bankrupting the country" through deficit spending. Gamely, your editorial that day suggests that we, as Iowans, "be polite" to representatives of both these parties as they try to dragoon us into attending the January caucuses or contributing time or money to their efforts.

  A two-party "system" it is - where both parties unite to represent one system: capitalism. No better example can be found than in the positioning on the farm bill, where "liberal Democrat" Tom Harkin stands shoulder-to-shoulder with "conservative Republican" Chuck Grassley to make sure that farm subsidies continue to roll and flow to the rich. A Dec. 11 Wall Street Journal editorial titled "Green Acres" lists some of these poor farmers - Scottie Pippen, David Letterman, Ted Turner, David Rockefeller, Leonard Lauder (of the cosmetics firm) and Edgar Bronfman Sr. (of the Seagrams fortune).

  Grassley's family has received more than $200,000 of such subsidies over the last decade. Of course, the ultimate recipients of this taxpayer giveaway are the owners of Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Monsanto, Pioneer, et al - a truly bipartisan bunch.

  Go ahead and vote Republican or Democrat.

  Just don't expect anything to change.

  Jim Walters, Iowa City

LTE: Politics misses real Christian principles, QC Times, 12-24

By Dennis Olson

I can't take it any more! I am a lifelong, active Christian and I can no longer remain silent in the face of political, theological hypocrisy.

The candidates of the GOP have battled for months over who is most worthy of representing God in government. Each claims he will return us to Christian fundamentals. However, given their party's priorities, I have to ask how.

The fundamentals of Christ's teachings are clear: to love God and one another, to turn the other cheek and forgive, to feed and clothe the poor. He set an example by healing the sick. He demonstrated peace and non-violence by not raising an army to throw out the Roman occupation. Many at the time hoped he would.

I then ask, isn't it time we take an objective look at GOP priorities? Principally they are about cutting taxes for the rich, the result of which limits the resources available to serve the poor. They resist health care reform, to protect who - certainly not the sick and needy. They wage the unnecessary war in Iraq, by choice, causing the deaths of tens of thousands and throwing another nation into anarchy. They justify it by saying it enhances our security. If you are objective, you know I could go on and on. In this political season I offer a cautionary statement; beware the wolf in sheep's clothing.

In this Christmas season I offer; may the peace of Christ be in you.

Dennis Olson, Long Grove

Blog Post: Wayne Ford Endorsement Gives Obama Legislative Lead, John Deeth, 12-23

With Sunday's endorsement from Rep. Wayne Ford of Des Moines, Barack Obama takes the lead in endorsements from Iowa Legislators with 20 to Hillary Clinton's 19.

Clinton still leads the Iowa Senate with 10, while Joe Biden has the most House endorsements with 14.

Rumors had abounded that Ford was planning to endorse Clinton immediately after the Dec. 1 Brown and Black Forum in Des Moines, but on Dec. 4 Ford issued a non-endorsement, saying, "In my opinion, none of the candidates aggressively dealt with the problems in the urban communities."  In Sunday's Obama press release, Ford said Obama will be "a President who can successfully expand economic opportunity and access to affordable housing for every American - including those who live in urban communities."

The release also noted that Ford's endorsement gives Obama support from all four of Iowa's African-American legislators.

In addition to Ford, Obama recently picked up support from Council Bluffs Rep. Paul Shomshor, while Biden added Reps. Eric Palmer of Grinnell and Dennis Cohoon of Burlington.

Only 14 of the 83 Democratic legislators remain uncommitted, including House Speaker Pat Murphy and Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (whose family members are backing Clinton.)

III. Op-Eds and Editorials

Iowa's caucus tale: 'Twas our plight before Christmas, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Jon Soliday * (with apologies to Clement C. Moore)

'Twas days before Christmas when I finally went shopping

for my list full of presents - no telling when I'd be stopping!

The gifts were scrawled down in numbers so great;

I hoped that my credit card had been paid up to date!

What with mom wanting fur, and a sis only Gucci,

and brothers whose tastes are for cognac and sushi!

The drive to the mall was neither festive nor merry -

the political ads on the radio made it quite hairy!

I nearly sideswiped a caroler while leaving my house

Not a singer, per se - it was Hillary's spouse!

He urged me to caucus, and I felt somewhat derided

when I told him I would, but was still "undecided."

"I'm too busy for this," I said. "Sorry ... gotta go"

leaving him and his cohorts shoving signs in the snow.

When I entered the mall, I heard quite a clatter;

I squeezed past the walkers to see what was the matter!

Away to the cash machine, I flew in a mad dash,

whipped out the plastic, and grabbed a fistful of cash!

From the shoppers' expressions, I quickly surmised

the true meaning of Christmas wasn't fully cognized!

For what to my dumbfounded eyes should appear:

A department store heralding its Sale of the Year

on clothing, on iPods, on laptops, on housewares,

on linens, on jewelry, on toys, tools, and flatware!

Into the store, I was swept by the crowd,

with the list in my hand and intentions avowed!

Christmas, I thought, isn't the presents we're giving,

rather, a time to bring joy to the living.

But upon seeing the markdowns, I lunged for a cart,

which I then filled to the brim - it wasn't too smart.

For the register whirred at such a dizzying pace

that I felt all the color abandon my face!

With a shuddering glance I was handed the bill;

well into '08 I'll surely be paying it still!

Back at my house, I started hitting the nog,

checked on my e-mails and a political blog.

The networks weren't airing "It's a Wonderful Life,"

but instead a debate, with candidates, naughty and nice!

'Tis the season, it seems, when the pollsters are jolly,

and our state is the playground for political folly.

My presents were wrapped, and I shrugged off my plight.

After all, this is Christmas ... so I called it a night!

Ex-officials of both parties ask: Please don't use religion as wedge, Des Moines Register, 12-24

Joy Corning and Sally Pederson

We both have served as lieutenant governor, one as a Republican and one as a Democrat. We both are political people. And, we both are religious people.

We don't agree on political parties. We don't agree on the best presidential candidates. We don't agree on the same solutions to the challenges facing our country. But we strongly agree on this: The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, and it also guarantees freedom from religion.

We agree that when religion and government mix, both suffer. The question is: How do people like us - people who are both political and religious - express our faith through government service?

The answer goes back to the First Amendment. We don't believe that government should sponsor any religion; thus we don't believe people of faith should use their public positions to proselytize personally or enact public policies in support of religion.

But as people of faith, our faith should inform our values, and those values are the bases of decisions and judgments we make in the public sphere.

For example: Both of us, based on the values of our faith, agree that everyone in America should have adequate health care, but we may disagree about the role of government in that process.

We agree on the need for a clean, healthy environment, because our faith teaches stewardship of our Earth, but we may disagree on government policies regulating pollution.

Thus, we strongly object to candidates of either party who try to make religion, or the form of it, or the lack of it, a qualification or disqualification for public office.

And, we oppose the practice by many religious institutions of endorsing specific candidates - not only a clear violation of their not-for-profit status, but also a practice that can be divisive and harmful to a community of faith.

We believe this wonderful exercise in democracy that we call the Iowa caucuses is about our duties under the Constitution and not about the religious prescription of any holy book.

As Iowans, let us remind the nation that the Constitution prohibits any religious test for public office and that the divisive use of religion to manipulate voters is unacceptable. The president-elect will take an oath to uphold the Constitution of this nation, not a religious doctrine or faith tradition. The president must serve all Americans without prejudice toward any religious or nonreligious beliefs.

We call on our fellow Iowans to show the nation that our religious and ethical beliefs inspire us to reach positive solutions to societal challenges based on our shared values as Americans. Let us not be divided by our sectarian or theological differences. Let us recognize the value in our diverse thoughts and beliefs. Let us use that diversity as a building block to strengthen our nation and world.

We call on the presidential candidates to run for office based on their vision, their judgment and their plans to deal with the challenges and issues that confront our nation. Do not ask us to vote for you based on your personal religious affiliation. Do not ask us to stand in judgment of your opponents' religious beliefs.

SALLY PEDERSON, a Democrat, and JOY CORNING, a Republican, both of Des Moines, are former lieutenant governors of Iowa. They wrote this essay on behalf of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

Establish reliable funding for outdoors, Des Moines Register, 12-24

The Register has published editorial after editorial arguing that Iowa needs a reliable and sustainable source of funding for conservation and recreation. We call it the "water-torture method" of opining and reserve it for causes we consider critical to the state's future.

Dependable funding for the outdoors in Iowa - including trails, waterways and wetlands - is one of those causes.

Iowa has no reliable, steady source of revenue for parks, green spaces and recreational trails. The state ranks an embarrassing 48th in the country in funding recreation and 49th in the percentage of land set aside for public use. The Resource Enhancement and Protection program, which funds the state's natural and cultural resources, has been shortchanged year after year. Lawmakers stopped funding Restore the Outdoors, which dedicated dollars to restoring state parks. A park user fee to raise money for recreation, established in 1985, was eliminated.

The result: Projects in state parks haven't been completed. Trails aren't connected. Landmarks crumble. When lawmakers don't make the outdoors a priority, the state's natural places and the Iowans who enjoy them fall victim to budget squeezes.

There is hope. The 2005-06 Iowa Legislature established an advisory committee for sustainable natural-resources funding. Members continue to work on options and are expected to make recommendations to lawmakers next year to create a sustainable mechanism.

Lawmakers should move quickly to do so. One option would be dedicating a portion of the sales tax to recreation and conservation the way Missouri does. However the money is raised, though, lawmakers should preclude raiding that fund for other spending.

Dependable funding for the outdoors would generate a host of benefits. It would improve the quality of life, make this a more attractive place to live and work, encourage people to live a more active lifestyle, increase property values, spur tourism and protect our natural resources for future generations.

It's also important for a reason that should appeal to all lawmakers: An investment in natural resources is an investment in economic development.

That's supported by a new study from Iowa State University, released last week, that documents the economic value of the state's natural resources.

One major finding: Just four types of recreational amenities - lakes, state parks, county parks and trails - generate an estimated $2.63 billion in spending each year. "Including secondary or multiplier effects implies that more than 27,400 jobs and $580 million in income are being generated in the Iowa recreation industry," according to the study.

The 55-page report also offers evidence of how important outdoor opportunities are to Iowans. More than 25 million visits are made to Iowa state parks and lakes each year. County parks are visited by 23 million visitor groups.

For some lawmakers, the most persuasive argument to invest in anything is an economic one. These are perhaps the same elected officials who have repeatedly scrambled to give money to the private sector in the name of "economic development."

Since funding recreation is also an exercise in economic development, legislators should work just as hard next session to dedicate needed dollars to Mother Nature.

Richardson: America needs a new direction in agriculture, Sioux City Journal, 12-24

By Bill Richardson 

A great son of the heartland, Harry Truman, once said that "every segment of our population, and every individual, has a right to expect from our government a fair deal." But as I travel throughout Iowa, it is clear that family farmers are in need of one today.

The challenges that farmers face have never been small. In this new century, however, they loom ever larger. I know that America's farmers n and Iowa's n can meet this challenge. But they cannot do it alone.

The president must be a partner with American farmers, and when I am elected, I will heed the words of President Truman: I will put fairness and reason back into our farm policy.

Farm policy will be central to the energy revolution we so desperately need, and Iowa stands ready to lead that revolution. With corn and soybeans, bio-diesel and bio-mass, wind and solar, we will break our addiction to oil and reverse global warming. We will build a new energy economy, and we will create green jobs that cannot be outsourced.

No one policy can bring us to this future. We need a man-on-the-moon effort and sacrifice from every American. My comprehensive energy plan provides for exactly this. It has been praised by the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club as the most aggressive and detailed. I will offer an array of incentives for renewable fuels, and create a National Renewable Portfolio Standard that will mandate strong minimum levels for renewable-fuel usage. Rural America will be central to that energy revolution.

In addition to meeting these new challenges, we must maintain our historic role as the breadbasket of the world. Generations of people overseas have known America not only from the hard power of our military might, but also from the soft power of our agricultural prowess. I will build upon and enhance this great American strength.

I will do this by prohibiting excessive consolidation in the agriculture sector, and ensuring that free markets and fair competition are the rule, not the exception. Monopolies are just as unacceptable today as Standard Oil was at the turn of the 20th century. I will sign the Packer Ban and close the loopholes in the Packers and Stockyards Act. We need real enforcement of our anti-trust laws. Farmers want n and deserve - a fair price from the market, profitability, and equity among producers.

Furthermore, I will put a hard cap of $250,000 on commodity subsidy payments to farmers in order to ensure that taxpayer dollars go to those for whom the commodity programs were intended.

I will also be a president who fights for American interests abroad. I will work to reduce barriers and expand U.S. agriculture exports to global markets, while negotiating fair prices for American farm products. I will fight for American workers to ensure that China and others play by the rules of the trade agreements that they have signed.

I run a Western state, so I know that you cannot just focus on the problems that the newspapers write about. Every community matters, whether it is big or small, urban or rural. And I have worked to solve the problems of all my state's people n not just of those in the big cities.

I will take that experience in bringing people together and getting things done to the White House. I will offer a tax credit for jobs created in rural areas, just as I did in New Mexico.

As importantly, I will ensure that rural America has universal access to broadband. This technology will create countless rural jobs in the telework sector to support viable, flourishing rural communities. That will allow businesses and jobs not only to be connected to Main Street, but also to the rest of the world. When there are economic opportunities in rural communities, rural youth will be able to remain in their communities, have careers and raise families.

We need a new direction in American agriculture, and a fair deal for American farmers. As I've traveled our nation, it has become clear to me that Americans stand ready to act. I know that we can do this. All we need are the experience and leadership to take us there.

Bill Richardson is a Democratic candidate for president.

Columnist: A guy named Mitt should know more about baseball, Sioux City Journal, 12-24

Dave Yoder

The Iowa caucuses are fast approaching. In a quirk of scheduling we will know who wins Iowa before we know who wins the BCS championship.

The candidates are starting to get a little testy. Their pedals are to their mettles. There will be a major goof, or a least a minor goof that will turn into a major goof.

For example, Mitt Romney last week admitted he's a member of a cult.

It's not a huge cult. If it were, it wouldn't be a cult. Still, it shows his beliefs are strange and outside the traditional thinking of most Americans.

Romney said at the end of a debate: "Like most Americans, we love our sports teams and hate the Yankees."

You'd think somebody named Mitt would have a little more appreciation for Major League Baseball.

He's from Massachusetts so he's required to cheer for the Boston Red Sox, the same way he's required to eat New England clam chowder, Boston baked beans and Boston cream pie. You do that stuff long enough, maybe you can even develop a taste for them.

And that's fine. You want to cheer for the Red Sox, pogo stick down Main Street, skydive naked, roller skate in a buffalo herd, or take part in any other strange, incomprehensible behavior, it's a free country.

But to think that's somehow "normal" and the rest of us upstanding, community-minded Yankee fans should be subjected to derision, that goes too far.

Hate the Yankees? Well, Virginia, you might as well hate the flag, and tell your mother you hated her apple pie. Hate the Yankess? You might as well invade foreign countries, eliminate the middle class and ignore global warming.

Do you sing "Red Sox Doodle Dandy?" Do you name graceful sailing ships "Red Sox Clipper?" Do hostile South American mobs shout "Red Sox go home?"

I don't mind people cheering for the Red Sox. I've always said they were the second-best team in baseball. Unlike Red Sox fans, I don't hate my arch-rivals. Dislike mixed with a little contempt, but not hatred.

Romney's statement that it's somehow normal to hate the Yankees eliminates him from consideration for the presidency. We don't need a person with those values in the White House.

We need someone who embraces the love of the game in the White House. Someone who sits in Yankee Stadium box seats because he enjoys it, not to make some political point. And the biggest Yankee fan in the Republican race is ...

Rudy Giuliani.

Pass the clam chowder and the cream pie, please.

On the Democratic side. Sen. Joe Biden is taking criticism for being long-winded.

For years, people have complained that candidates only speak in sound bites. Here comes a guy who not only knows the issues inside and out, but can explain them. It takes longer than a sound bite because he knows the issues are much too complicated to explain simply. And that's somehow wrong.

Well, we wouldn't want a president who knows what he's doing, would we?

 

Columnist: GOP campaign is in flux (The People's Business), Mason City Globe Gazette, 12-24

By Charlotte Eby, Globe Des Moines Bureau

The one thing that's a sure bet is that nothing's a sure bet on caucus night.

The Republican campaign is in flux, and it's hard to predict who will pull out a win on Jan. 3.

Although Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in Iowa, he could be in for a tough finale.

His shoestring campaign might have difficulty capitalizing on his popularity in the Iowa caucuses, where organization and getting supporters to the caucus matters as much as message.

Huckabee, who has led in recent polls, has been attacked from all sides on questions about his foreign policy experience and his record as governor.

Rival Mitt Romney has been relentless in his criticisms of Huckabee's record on crime, pointing to commutations Huckabee granted to convicted criminals in Arkansas.

Huckabee took on the question of commutations head-on during an Iowa appearance. He said of 8,700 commutation requests he received during his time as governor, he denied 90 percent.

But he highlighted a few that he was proud of granting. He talked of a 25-year-old who wanted to attend culinary school but had the black mark of joy-riding in a stolen car as an 18-year-old in his record.

Huckabee said it was the right thing to do to grant him a clemency and give him a second chance.

He also granted commutations to single moms who couldn't get a job in a nursing home years later after writing a "hot" check.

Huckabee bashed Romney's decision not to grant clemency to a man who wanted to be a police officer but had shot someone with a BB gun when he was 13 years old, not even breaking the skin.

Huckabee said the best political decision is to deny every application.

"I think we ought to make decisions on what's best for the future of a young man, not what's best for the future of somebody who wants to run for a future office," Huckabee said.

Polls show Romney, who once held a lead in Iowa, still coming in a close second place. Romney packed a hotel ballroom with nearly 1,500 revelers for his Christmas party Wednesday night in West Des Moines.

Romney has one thing Huckabee lacks - a strong campaign organization that knows how to turn out supporters. They flexed that muscle in August at the GOP straw poll in Ames, busing in supporters from around the state who handed Romney a win.

But don't call it a two-person race just yet.

Fred Thompson has been trying to wrangle up interest in his campaign by spending time in Iowa, although to less-than-stellar reviews.

It seems as if the label as a lazy, unenthusiastic campaigner is starting to stick.

Thompson has still managed to land the endorsement of U.S. Steve King, the king of right-wing true believers in Iowa.

John McCain, riding a new wave of momentum after an impressive string of newspaper endorsements, is trying to breathe new life into his sagging campaign.

But he's doing that in New Hampshire, not Iowa, where he hasn't shown his face much in recent months.

McCain isn't the only candidate running a drive-by campaign in Iowa.

Public schedules for Rudy Giuliani don't show him making a stop in Iowa on his latest 10-day campaign stretch. His scattershot approach has him stopping in Missouri, hardly an influential primary state, but not crossing the border to meet voters in Iowa.

The X-factor this year could be Ron Paul if he can encourage his backers to log off their computers long enough to head to the caucuses.

Even without a strong campaign structure in Iowa, Paul was able to surprise many by snagging fifth place at the GOP straw poll in Ames.

And everybody likes a surprise on caucus night.

Charlotte Eby is Statehouse bureau chief for Lee Enterprises. Contact her at 515-243-0138 or [email-masked].

 

Op-Ed: Edwards asks tough questions, Iowa City Press-Citizen

Terrence Neuzil
Johnson County Supervisor

On Jan. 3 Iowa Democrats have an incredible responsibility to choose a president who best represents the core values of our Party. Ask yourself: who will be the voice for the voiceless? Who will unite us, not divide us? Who can we trust? Who can win in November?

My choice is former Sen. John Edwards because he has not been afraid to challenge us to work towards leaving our country in a better place for future generations. Edwards has been asking Iowans some very difficult questions as well: Are we happy with the current direction our country has taken with the war in Iraq or with the views the world community has on us today? Why do we tolerate rising poverty rates and children going to bed hungry or the fact that thousands of Americans do not know how they are going to take care of themselves or their loved ones because they can't afford to do so? Why are fuel prices continuing to rise without aggressive innovative solutions to do anything about it, or what are we doing about our air that is so polluted that it's having an adverse effect on our world climate?

Edwards has spent his life successfully fighting against powerful special interest groups that have made these decisions and created these hardships. He will stand up for the values that represent the Democratic Party -- hard work, opportunity and equality -- and he has laid out specific plans to answer these tough questions to unite our country into one America. It is time for a leader to fight for change.

With Edwards as president, America will rise again.

Op-Ed: Our View - Apologies don't cut it for smears against Obama, Iowa City Press Citizen, 12-24

There seems to be a strange pattern developing in the Democratic presidential race where surrogates or campaign workers of Sen. Hillary Clinton make negative statements or ones laced with innuendo about rival Sen. Barack Obama and then apologize.

We're tired of it.

We want it to stop.

One of the most important reasons we endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination is his message of hope for the future and of unity ("Obama has what it takes to restore nation's integrity," Dec. 19). We don't want a return to the "politics of personal destruction" of the 1990s.

Sure, Clinton has apologized personally to Obama in at least one instance. Sure, the surrogates have apologized. Sure, campaign workers have resigned or been fired. But at some point, the negative tactics themselves must stop.

The latest includes former Sen. Bob Kerrey's endorsing of Clinton but praising Obama's Muslim roots in a way that raised eyebrows, according to the Associated Press, because that detail has been part of an Internet smear campaign against Obama, who is a Christian. Kerrey later apologized for any unintentional insult he may have committed.

There's also the flier from AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees that criticizes Obama's health plan and uses a quote from former Sen. John Edwards criticizing Obam's plan. But AFSCME is backing Clinton. So not only does a Clinton-supporting organization criticize Obama, they entangle Edwards in that criticism.

Of course, this stream of innuendo has come as polls show a tightening race Democratic race in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Along with it has come Clinton campaign talk of electability and Obam's unknowns. The notion seems to be that Obama couldn't win the general election because the Republicans would exploit potential negatives, and the Clinton campaign is just tossing out a few examples.

We commend Obama for sticking with his campaign of hope, for not taking us back through the lengthy list of Clinton's potential negatives but staying focused on unity and the future.

The issue* The Clinton campaign seems to be developing a pattern of making negative statements or innuendoes about Sen. Barack Obama, then apologizing.

We suggest* This pattern needs to end.

* Does negative campaigning affect your view of candidates?

* Send letters to Opinion Page, P.O. Box 2480, Iowa City, Iowa 52245 or e-mail to [email-masked].

* Post your comments directly to http://forums.press-citizen.com.

 

Columnist: Get ready for GOP surprise on caucus night, WCF Courier, 12-23

Charlotte Eby

The one thing that's a sure bet is that nothing's a sure bet on caucus night.

The Republican campaign is in flux, and it's hard to predict who will pull out a win on Jan. 3.

Although Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in Iowa, he could be in for a tough finale.

His shoestring campaign might have difficulty capitalizing on his popularity in the Iowa caucuses, where organization and getting supporters to the caucus matters as much as message.

Huckabee, who has led in recent polls, has been attacked from all sides on questions about his foreign policy experience and his record as governor.

Rival Mitt Romney has been relentless in his criticisms of Huckabee's record on crime, pointing to commutations Huckabee granted to convicted criminals in Arkansas.

Huckabee took on the question of commutations head-on during an Iowa appearance. He said of 8,700 commutation requests he received during his time as governor, he denied 90 percent.

But he highlighted a few that he was proud of granting. He talked of a 25-year-old who wanted to attend culinary school but had the black mark of joy-riding in a stolen car as an 18-year-old in his record.

Huckabee said it was the right thing to do to grant him a clemency and give him a second chance.

He also granted commutations to single moms who couldn't get a job in a nursing home years later after writing a "hot" check.

Huckabee bashed Romney's decision not to grant clemency to a man who wanted to be a police officer but had shot someone with a BB gun when he was 13 years old, not even breaking the skin.

Huckabee said the best political decision is to deny every application.

"I think we ought to make decisions on what's best for the future of a young man, not what's best for the future of somebody who wants to run for a future office," Huckabee said.

Polls show Romney, who once held a lead in Iowa, still coming in a close second place. Romney packed a hotel ballroom with nearly 1,500 revelers for his Christmas party Wednesday night in West Des Moines.

Romney has one thing Huckabee lacks --- a strong campaign organization that knows how to turn out supporters. They flexed that muscle in August at the GOP straw poll in Ames, busing in supporters from around the state who handed Romney a win.

But don't call it a two-person race just yet.

Fred Thompson has been trying to wrangle up interest in his campaign by spending time in Iowa, although to less-than-stellar reviews.

It seems as if the label as a lazy, unenthusiastic campaigner is starting to stick.

Thompson has still managed to land the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Steve King, the king of right-wing true believers in Iowa.

John McCain, riding a new wave of momentum after an impressive string of newspaper endorsements, is trying to breathe new life into his sagging campaign.

But he's doing that in New Hampshire, not Iowa, where he hasn't shown his face much in recent months.

McCain isn't the only candidate running a drive-by campaign in Iowa.

Public schedules for Rudy Giuliani don't show him making a stop in Iowa on his latest 10-day campaign stretch. His scattershot approach has him stopping in Missouri, hardly an influential primary state, but not crossing the border to meet voters in Iowa.

The X-factor this year could be Ron Paul if he can encourage his backers to log off their computers long enough to head to the caucuses.

Even without a strong campaign structure in Iowa, Paul was able to surprise many by snagging fifth place at the GOP straw poll in Ames.

And everybody likes a surprise on caucus night.

Columnist: Obama's new stump speech electrifying, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Barack Obama has become a one-trick pony. But what a trick it is!

The stump speech he has developed in the closing stages of the pre-Christmas campaign is a thing of beauty, a 40-minute oration delivered without notes that is powering his gains in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the first primary here in New Hampshire five days later.

Hillary Clinton has nothing to match it. John Edwards has periodic bursts of eloquence. But Obama has reached the point of being able to deliver the speech on demand, and to reach audiences with assured effect. It has become his security blanket.

The speech was introduced at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines more than a month ago, when Obama was still struggling for leverage against Clinton and Edwards in Iowa. It drew rave reviews from that big audience and from Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen, and Obama knew he had a winner.

He gave it again to the Democratic National Committee at its candidate forum in northern Virginia, and he won accolades. So he gave it four more times, when Advertisement 

he toured with Oprah Winfrey through Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Manchester and Columbia, S.C., thrilling about 60,000 people at the four venues.

He has now delivered it in small towns all over Iowa, and here in New Hampshire, he did it six more times in two days last week.

It is a helluva speech. Like some Beethoven symphonies, it starts on a rather calm and even lighthearted note. He hits an early applause line by reminding audiences that next year, "George Bush's name will not be on the ballot." Democrats cheer the prospective departure of the man they despise. And then Obama jokes, "Neither will my cousin, Dick Cheney. What an embarrassment to discover he was part of the family."

He segues to a standard riff about the importance of the coming election, quickly converting it into a pointed attack on Hillary Clinton, although he does not name her. Given the stakes, he says, it is not enough just to change parties or presidents in this election. "We have to change politics. The same old games won't do; triangulating and trimming won't do."

Then Obama pays his respect to Edwards-style populism, ragging on a Washington where health care and energy legislation have been stymied for years by corporate lobbyists -- none of whom, he promises, will get the time of day from an Obama administration.

Then he touches the erogenous zones of various Democratic constituencies, promising labor to raise the minimum wage each and every year; promising teachers generous salaries; and promising college students new help in paying tuition.

And finally, comes the peroration, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. on the "fierce urgency of now," in explaining why he can't patiently wait his turn to run for president. It's a bit of a reach because he wants to draw another contrast with Hillary. Unlike others, he says, he has not planned to run for years and he does not regard the presidency as his entitlement. 

The closing anecdote is based on an incident at a rally in Greenwood, S.C., where, on a miserable morning, with a meager crowd, a single black woman in the audience first revived Obama's spirit by shouting out encouragement, and then got everyone chanting, responsively, "Fired up!" "Ready to go!"

As he tells the familiar story, Obama segues from a conversational tone to a shout, and explains that the chant has now become his trademark and slogan. So, he tells his listeners, "I've got one thing to ask you. Are you FIRED UP? 

Are you READY TO GO? FIRED UP! READY TO GO!

And then, as the shouting becomes almost too loud to bear, he adds the five words that capsulize his whole message and sends the voters scrambling back into their winter coats and streaming out the door: "Let's go change the world," Obama says. And it sounds as if he means it.

In every audience I have seen, there is a jolt of pure electric energy at those closing words. Tears stain some cheeks -- and some people look a little thunderstruck

Columnist: Democrats have little to show for running Congress, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, 12-23

By George Will The Washington Post

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Hell bent on driving its approval rating into single digits, Congress adjourned after passing an omnibus spending bill larded with at least 8,993 earmarks costing at least $7.4 billion -- the precise number and amount will be unclear until implications of some obscure provisions are deciphered. The gusher of earmarks was a triumph of bipartisanship, which often is a synonym for kleptocracy.

This was the first year since 1994 that Democrats controlled both houses. Consider Congress' agreeably meager record:

It raised the hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85 -- less than the $7 entry wage at McDonald's -- thereby increasing the wages of less than 0.5 percent of the work force. Rebuffing George W. Bush, who advocates halting farm subsidies to those with adjusted gross incomes of more than $200,000, the Senate also rejected -- more bipartisanship -- a cap at $750,000. This, in spite of the fact that farm income has soared to record levels, partly because Congress shares the president's loopy enthusiasm for ethanol and wants more corn and other agricultural matter turned into fuel. 

Although Congress trembles for the future of the planet, it was unwilling to eliminate the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol. But our polymath Congress continued designing automobiles to make them less safe (smaller) and more expensive. It did this by mandating new fuel efficiency -- a 35 mph fleet average by 2020 -- lest the automotive industry design cars people want. And Congress mandated a 12-year phaseout of incandescent light bulbs. 

Bruce Raynor, president of the union Unite Here, expressed organized labor's compassionate liberalism when he urged sparing workers the burden of democracy: "There's no reason to subject workers to an election." The House agreed, voting for "card check" organizing that strips workers of their right to a secret ballot when deciding for or against unionization of their workplace. Unions, increasingly unable to argue that they add more value than they subtract from workers' lives, crave the "card check" system. Under it, once a majority of workers, pressured one at a time by labor organizers, sign a card, the union is automatically certified as the bargaining agent for all the workers. Senate Republicans blocked this, but the Senate Democrats voted to cripple the Department of Labor agency that requires union bosses to explain how they spend their members' money.

To improve Americans' health, Congress hopes that by 2017, 22 million more people will begin smoking, enough to pay the increased cigarette taxes that purportedly would finance an expansion of SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program). The program, supposedly for low-income children, would have been expanded to cover many children -- and adults -- from households with incomes far above the nation's median income. The president vetoed the expansion.

Having vowed to end the war in Iraq, House liberals ended the year in a minuet of moral evasion. Representatives passed a bill containing money for the war in Afghanistan, but not for the one in Iraq. The Senate added money for Iraq. House Democrats then voted 141-78 against final passage, but House Republicans and moderate Democrats passed it and liberals headed home to brag about having voted against funding the war.

In January, with much preening, House Democrats embraced "paygo," the pay-as-you-go rule that any tax cut must be "paid for" by compensatory tax increases or revenue cuts. In December, Democrats abandoned it because of the alternative minimum tax. 

The AMT was enacted in 1969 as an indignation gesture aimed at fewer than 200 rich people who managed, legally, to owe no taxes. But the enactors neglected to index the AMT against inflation, so this year it would have been a $50 billion bite out of 

23 million taxpayers. The House voted to repeal it and pay for repeal with a $50 billion tax increase. Senate Republicans argued that no Congress ever intended the AMT to collect, or ever will allow it to collect, such large sums from such a large number of Americans. Therefore, paygo would siphon $50 billion to compensate for a fictitious $50 billion. The Senate voted 88-5 to not collect the AMT this year, the House acquiesced and paygo evaporated.

Rep. John Campbell, a California Republican, notes that this year the House took many more votes (1,186) than ever but only 146 bills became laws, and most of those named buildings or other things, or extended existing laws. Congress, and especially the Democratic majority, should be congratulated for this because a decrease in the quantity of legislation generally means an increase in the quality of life.

 
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Iowans for Hillary -- Hillary Clinton for President
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