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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (25883)	7/14/2008 3:21:24 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

Obama leaps to early Iowa start; McCain slowly digs in By THOMAS BEAUMONT • tbeaumont@dmreg.com • July 14, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is off to a more aggressive campaign in Iowa than John McCain, despite the Republican having clinched the nomination three months earlier than his rival. Obama has 15 campaign offices open and staffed in Iowa, while McCain is still plotting where to locate about half as many. Though Obama campaign officials declined to disclose their hiring plans, they said its safe to say their 2-to-1 edge in local headquarters is a sign Obama's staff will outnumber McCain's team, which could reach 20 by this fall. McCain's recent hiring of a state director and opening of a Des Moines-area headquarters last week soothed county GOP leaders who had worried that McCain waited too long. But Obama's organizational advantage - in part the product of his winning caucus campaign - and the Democrats' favorable voter registration trend has some national observers taking Iowa off the list of toss-up states. "It's in the realm of possibility that McCain could pull an upset in Iowa, but it's unlikely," said Larry Sabato, director of University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "Obama has had strength in Iowa from the beginning, which we saw on January 3. And McCain, Iowa's just not his state." Iowa is among 18 states listed as top targets by both campaigns in the effort to cross the 270 electoral-vote threshold required to win. In the past two presidential elections, few states were determined by narrower margins than Iowa. A difference of 4,000 votes put the state in Democrat Al Gore's column in 2000 and roughly 10,000 put it in the Republican George Bush's four years later. As evidence of Iowa's early status as a battleground, both campaigns have included the state in its early advertising. McCain has been more aggressive so far, having aired eight television ads here to Obama's two. Obama's organizational edge with a little less than four months until the election is due in part to the intense effort he invested in Iowa last year and the state's pivotal role in shaping the Democratic nominating campaign. Obama spent almost a year campaigning in Iowa before January, building up a staff of more than 150 and a volunteer network of about 3,500. That network had little time to rest after the caucuses. Obama's campaign aides have remained in touch with his Iowa supporters, as they worked to turn out delegates to county and district conventions in their battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York for national delegates. Obama's general election campaign plan in Iowa follows the template that helped him win the caucuses, and which proved effective in his success in many states during the grueling nomination fight with Clinton. That strategy focuses on having a local presence in as many places as the campaign can support and on keeping an army of 3,500 volunteers engaged, said Jack Norris, Obama's Iowa campaign director. "So much of what we were doing before the county conventions ... was bringing up to speed again the Obama network in each of those counties," said Norris, who was a top adviser to Obama's caucus campaign. Obama led McCain in polls of Iowa voters in June by fewer than 10 percentage points. Meanwhile, McCain, who was beset a year ago by near-crippling financial woes, waged a limited bid for the GOP caucuses, with a staff of about eight. The Arizona senator finished in fourth place, within striking distance of third-place finisher former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. But McCain waited three months to begin organizing a general election campaign in Iowa, largely because he had all but depleted his campaign finances, said Gentry Collins, a veteran Iowa GOP campaign operative in charge of McCain's effort in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. Collins cautioned against judging the 2008 McCain campaign in Iowa alongside Bush's winning 2004 campaign, which had more money to spend than McCain does. "You'd always like to see things happen faster. But am I worried about the rate at which we've grown? No," Collins said. "We're committed to winning. And if we need to make adjustments this summer and fall, we'll make adjustments." Russ Cross, GOP chairman in Story County, was among a number of county party leaders who thought McCain had waited too long to begin building an Iowa campaign. He gave McCain measured approval for hiring an Iowa director last month. Charlie Liebschutz, a top aide in McCain's South Carolina primary campaign, will oversee the Iowa campaign. "I'm feeling pretty good. If you'd asked me that question a month ago I would have said no," Cross said. "We've got a defined plan. And I believe it's achievable." Both presidential candidates have visited the state since effectively securing the nominations, and have plans to return this summer. Obama, who canceled a visit to Cedar Rapids last month during the height of the flood, plans to reschedule the visit after an overseas trip later this month. McCain is planning an early August stop. desmoinesregister.com