Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) — After a yearlong campaign in Iowa, the
Republican and Democratic presidential front-runners are boiling
down their arguments to a six-letter word: change.
Its a tough sell. Both races are essentially at a draw
before the Jan. 3 statewide caucuses.
“Nobody has been able to pull comfortably ahead, and
theyve been trying for 10 months to find a way to convince a
sizable portion of the Republican or Democratic electorate that
they are the right person, said Arthur Sanders, chairman of the
Department of Political Science and International Relations at
Drake University in Des Moines.
Seventy-three percent of Iowa voters say the country is on
the wrong track, according to a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll
in late December. With the caucuses likely to set the stage for
the rest of the campaign, candidates are going to great lengths,
outlining how they would transform the status quo and put the
country on the right track.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton says shell use her
experience as former first lady and a New York senator; John
Edwards says hell wage the toughest fight against special
interests and corporations; and Barack Obama offers the ideals of
hope and vision put to work on behalf of the American people, who
he says are the real agents of change.
Experience and Style
For the Republican front-runners in Iowa, Mitt Romney
invokes his experience as a former Massachusetts governor and
chief executive and the memory of former President Ronald Reagan,
while Mike Huckabee says his version of President George W.
Bushs compassionate-conservative approach will help unite
Americans to change the country.
Huckabee leads Romney among Republican caucus goers 32
percent to 26 percent in a Des Moines Register poll released
yesterday. Senator John McCain of Arizona follows with 13 percent.
Among Democrats, Obama has 32 percent support to Clintons 25
percent. Edwards is backed by 24 percent. The poll, taken Dec.
27-30, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage
points.
Clinton, 60, hammers on her theme across Iowa. It combines
her experience to make changes with an indirect critique of her
main rivals.
“Some people think you bring about change by demanding it;
some people think you do it by hoping for it; I think you bring
change by working really, really hard for it every single day,
she said Dec. 30 in Traer.
`Fierce Urgency
On the stump, Obama says the caucuses are a defining moment
and borrows language from the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.,
who spoke of the “fierce urgency of now. He urges his Iowa
audiences to be part of a movement that will revolutionize
American politics.
“We talked about change when were down, and we talked about
change when we were up, and this change thing must be catching on
because I notice know suddenly everybodys talking about
change, Obama, 46, told a crowd in Des Moines on Dec. 30.
Edwards, 54, a former North Carolina senator, calls the
election the “great moral test of our generation. The former
trial lawyer, ratcheting up his populist tone, makes his final
pitch to rural and blue-collar workers by blaming “corporate
greed for economic and power imbalances in the country.
“Unless youve got a president whos willing to take on
these drug companies, insurance companies on health care, willing
to take on oil companies, power companies on the environment,
nothings going to change, Edwards said in Waverly, Iowa, Dec.
27.
`Changing Things
The Republican race in Iowa pits two former governors
against each other, with contrasts in style and substance.
Romney, 60, the co-founder of private equity firm Bain
Capital LLC and a one-term governor, says he has lifelong
experience at “changing things.
“We need somebody who understands how to build and
strengthen the American spirit, the American family, at the same
time use change to grow our economy and make us the most robust
economy in the world, he told a crowd at Newtons Midtown Café
Dec. 29.
Huckabee, meanwhile, says hell refocus on the compassionate
conservatism that Bush campaigned on in 2000 yet never realized
in office and pressing domestic issues. He told an audience in
Indianola, Iowa, that the countrys survival depends on the next
president addressing the budget deficit, immigration, the tax
system, health-care coverage and education.
Huckabees Stand
“If we dont make some changes to the way we do business in
this country, the former Arkansas governor, 52, said, “it
really wont matter in another generation whether we call
ourselves Democrat or Republican because there wont be enough of
an America left to still be fighting for.
Over the past week, the two also have sharpened their
attacks on each other, with Huckabee calling Romney “dishonest
for changing his stances on issues such as abortion rights, and
Romneys campaign aides pointing to what they called Huckabees
“troubling record as governor on taxes and immigration.
“Its a record that is tough to defend, so his testiness
and irritability when being questioned about it is obvious,
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Dec. 30.
Yesterday, Huckabee called a Des Moines news conference to
announce he would forgo negative campaigning. He then showed
reporters an ad attacking Romneys record and said he decided
that morning not to broadcast it in Iowa.
“Conventional political wisdom is that when you are hit and
its beginning to do damage, the smart play is to hit back,
Huckabee said. “We will run only the ads that talk about why I
should be president, and not why Mitt Romney should not.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Julianna Goldman in Des Moines at
