at the Top; 3 Days to Go
Kerry, who has moved to the top in polls, will rely on veterans, firefighters and a seasoned political team to turn his momentum into votes. "I got three days left to talk to the people of Iowa and the people of the country," Kerry said on his campaign bus as it rolled from New Hampton to Decorah. "I want to talk about what's important to the people here. They don't care about how, what, when, why; they care about what I'm gonna do for their lives."
Kerry's message to undecideds: He is the candidate with the military and political experience to oust Bush.
"What you need to do in these next hours, obviously, is to find out who can be president, who's ready to be president, who can lead our country in the direction we want and who can beat George Bush. I believe I'm that person," he said to about 100 people at the Waverly City Hall, along the banks of the Cedar River. "I think the reason you are seeing some changes out here in Iowa right now is people are listening carefully and checking us out, and coming to that conclusion."
Edwards trumpeted a similar message, but could be hurt by an inferior political organization in the state, strategists say. Edwards does not have labor supporters or out-of-state volunteers, and said his get-out-the-vote strategy is homegrown.
"We have an Iowan-to-Iowan organization," he said. "We've been organizing, organizing, organizing for a year. We've been getting ready for this, and it will show Monday."
His strategists have focused on rural communities and smaller towns, because the state's delegate-counting system is weighted to give those communities as much clout as areas with larger populations.
In New Hampshire, retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark laid out what he called a complete record of his military and post-military employment, challenging other candidates to match his disclosures. Decrying the Bush administration as "the most closed administration since Richard Nixon," Clark said at a news conference in Manchester that if elected, he will reverse Bush's restrictions on Freedom of Information Act requests, insist on publicity for meetings between lobbyists and public officials, and hold news conferences at least once a month.
But spokesmen for Kerry and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.) said Clark needs to provide more details about his work as a lobbyist for defense and homeland security firms since he retired from the military.
Clark noted that he has gone further than any rival in opening up his personal records, suggested that his actions are a contrast to Dean's decision to seal some records relating to his years as governor.
Staff writers Ceci Connolly and Vanessa Williams in Iowa and David S. Broder in New Hampshire contributed to this report. |
