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Bob in Denver — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:24:20 GMT

Under the radar, the Obama campaign has been organizing diligently in Iowa. This will be apparent on January 3 when Hillary gets her comeuppance and Obama wins the caucus. Then, the rest of the dominos will fall: NH, SC and Super Tuesday. Sorry Hillary, too little, too late.
Obama/Webb '08

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Michael, Los Angeles CA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:08:29 GMT

I am amazed at how the obituary is not being written for senator Clinton by the media. Honestly, I don't think its a conspiracy, but, I do think it plays better in the media to have an "underdog" beat Top Dog. Does it seem that media reports of late are vary negative of clinton where as Obama's press is rather good.

I think people should let the voting happen and then the pundits can anaylsis the reasons for the votes - but to do it before is bias and can never be a fair point of view.

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sonya, atlanta, ga — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:46:07 GMT

Hillary always following a man's lead.

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Harry, Indianola, IA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:44:03 GMT

Hear, hear. I'm a small-town Iowan, and this is exactly the type of thing that makes me wonder why the heck Hillary Clinton's national poll numbers are the way they are. Good thing they're finally deflating.

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Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:56:32 GMT

The Goetheburg(prn. Gert-berg)Illuminator, Iowa's most esoteric small town newspaper, while not endorsing anyone, has announced that the Republican and Democratic winners of "The Great Iowa Wrestle-Off" will each be awarded the Paper's highest honor, a lead bust of Goethe with the inscription, "Mind is Matter", and a ten dollar gift certificate from "Kafka's Bait Shop".

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Dan — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:59:24 GMT

Looks like Clinton is following Obama again, this time into the local weeklies.

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Marbw — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:28:46 GMT

Well, it seems that Zogby is striking back.

Mark Penn: Buckling Under the Pressure of an Unfavorable Poll:
quote: What is interesting is that no other campaign has made as many requests for Zogby polling data over the years than Penn has made on behalf of Clinton.

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1394

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GordonsGirl, Chicago, IL — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:59:14 GMT

Why is Clinton so afraid of the rural Midwest but not New Hampshire? Or does she simply think they're not worth her time? Ridiculous...

Folks, if her campaign is any clue as to how she'd govern, her administration will certainly not have the welfare of all Americans at stake.

Most of all, it's more proof of her attitude of supreme entitlement. Clinto should be out there, working hard to earn EVERY vote.

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Banko — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:32:40 GMT

Clinton Claims He Opposed Iraq War From The Beginning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/politics/28clinton.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Bill Clinton Rewrites History on Iraq?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/11/bill-clinton-re.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/27/clinton-claims-he-opposed_n_74406.html

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Marbw — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:34:59 GMT

Planting questions and avoiding newspaper(now this is a way to have a 'conversation'..snark). Wow! very elitist. I was under the impression that she wants the real people to vote for her. Iowans like retail politics. Vilsack has not earned his keep(campaign debt paid off) if this is the advice he gave earlier on. Oh, well.

Obama08 for the real(not planted) American

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Rena, Bostonish, MA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:51:40 GMT

Well reported... Iowa is so different from other parts of the country. I grew up there and can vouch for the importance of the local media. Senator Obama's time as a community organizer is really paying off on the ground now... Iowans want someone who will actually listen.

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Tim, Iowa City, IA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:11:36 GMT

First I must applaud you First Read for writing something as it is, rather than putting in your own spin on how something should be perceived politically. The local media sees it how it is. Why don't you guys? As an Iowan I can attest to the fact that Hillary events are very programmed and have a feel that there about her garnering votes and them moving on to the next county to garner more votes and then to hurry to the airport. Obama events, on the other hand, feel like there put on for you not him and he never seems to be in a rush to go anywhere.

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mike, dallas, TX — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:12:28 GMT

In this case and so many instances Obama has led and Hillary and her campaign have reacted or imitated his move. No question who the leader is.

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Brian Petersen Belfair WA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:25:10 GMT

Once again, Obama is the genuine candidate truly interested in a grassroots outreach and Clinton is the unaccessible Washington machine. That's exactly why he has the momentum and she is beginning to tank in both Iowa and national polls. OBAMA '08

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Rick, WS, NC — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:25:32 GMT

Yawn...there were more employees in my division than the total circulation of these two weekly fish wraps...this is small fry trying to puff up their egos...

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mike — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:32:41 GMT

And Hillary's camp screams foul-only to be spanked back by the professionals.

Zogby puts Mark Penn in his place.

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1394

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Santa Ana — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:56:22 GMT

Where is Edwards in this story

More bias from this paper

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From one of the other 49 states — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:11:18 GMT

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Mitchell Feldman, Vestal, NY — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:15:15 GMT

Is Bill Clinton working for someone other than Hillary? It seems that he can't open his mouth without launching a firestorm of controversy. Not that it really matters what Bill's position was on the Iraqi invasion in 2002/2003, because his wife was clearly in support of Bush's lunacy. And she supported this action without reading the NIE, a 90 page report that cast serious doubt on Saddam Hussein's capacity to launch WMD. This latest revisionist history by husband Bill, can only serve to underscore that Hillary is not an anti-war candidate and shares responsibility for this, the most disasterous foreign policy decision in the history of the U.S. Is this indicative of her foreign policy experience? It certainly isn't any indication of her judgment.
Obama '08

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Bee — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:17:02 GMT

Mark Penn Inc. is the phoniest strategist I have ever seen. Like I said yesterday, the Clinton’s machine will do anything to discredit anyone that opposes their view. They went after zogby on TV when the poll is not in their favor.

The question Americans should ask themselves is this; do you want another era of George Bush politics practice by Hillary Clinton?

Personally, I don't think I want to see Hillary Clinton in my living room for the next 4 years. I am tired of power driven politician who think everything is all about them. We’ve seen how deadly the era of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby justice could be. We’ve seen the era of power driven politician like Tom Delay “The harmer” in house of congress. I don’t think America will be better off if Hillary Clinton is elected going by her tactical maneuver and her Dick Cheney way of intimidation.

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J. Merle Stanley, Westchester, NY — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:00 GMT

That's just wishful thinking, Bob.
Two weeks ago, Obama was leading in Iowa by two points. This week, on the heels of a strong showing in the CNN debate, Hillary is tied with him.
Obama has never been able to consistantly take charge in this race. His up and down, inconsistant, on again-off again performances in the debates do him in everytime.
On the other hand, Hillary has consistantly either been in the lead, or tied for the lead (if not tied within the margin of error.)...and THIS despite all the negative, mean spirited, rhetoric that's been spewed around by people like...OBAMA.
Barrack Obama isn't going anywhere. He doesn't have the experience to be President. For as charasmatic as he might be in a set up interview, he isn't a polished debater and has no "real" message.
Hillary is going to be The Democratic Party's Candidate in 2008, and she is going to be our country's President in 2009.

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J. Merle Stanley, Westchester, NY — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:30:01 GMT

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Carrie, Eastern Iowa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:33:25 GMT

Interesting how when Clinton does what Obama does (contacting weekly newpapers) that is bad bad bad.

Oh I forgot, First Read is Obamaland. My bad. Yeah, I know...he did it first. <insert any of the other 100 justifications for hating Hillary and excusing anything and everything Obama says and does because, let's face it, he is the second coming of Christ>

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Carrie, Eastern Iowa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:34:57 GMT

Hey Iowa, you're not exactly the only state in the country, you know? Quit your cyring about who lavishes you with the most attention and who doesn't. That's how you pick the President, by deciding who sucks up to you more and not based on the issues? Give me a break. I live in a state that doesn't really have much impact on the primaries (non-Super Tuesday state), so I don't expect the candidates to be around too much. Do I feel slighted? No. I watch the debates, I read/watch the news. I listen to what they say on the issues, not whether they ate a turkey leg at the state fair. Seriously, about 1 in 4 Iowans has met with at least 1 if not more of the candidates. Stop your incessant whining!
From one of the other 49 states (Sent Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:11 AM)

Who is whining here? Sounds like you, actually. The piece is not about Iowans whining - it's about a particular campaign strategy (attention to weekly newspapers) and how it is being implemented in Iowa. Maybe if you were not so busy screaming about how you don't feel slighted you would have noticed that.

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Bee — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:39:09 GMT

I wonder what Mark Penn will do next

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Jim Lutz, Great Barrington NY — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:40:34 GMT

{ Mark Penn Inc. is the phoniest strategist I have ever seen. }

Ohh, there is nothing phony about Mark Penn. He's as brilliant as Rove. He's just doing his job trying to spin the polls to be in his boss's favor.

Penn though has made one huge error in the last month, and it will cost his boss the election. He talked Hillary up as the inevitable and the invincible candidate. Now that this is no longer true, Hillary is dropping in polls like a rock. Without her being invincible anymore, people are looking to other candidates.

Hillary's only claim to fame is that she is the wife of a twice elected president. She would be polling Kucinich type numbers if she was not married to Bill. Penn tried to stomp out the competition early by making Hillary into something she is not, i.e., a smart politician, someone that was unbeatable. Anytime Hillary got in trouble, and it's happening more and more, Hillary wasn't used to get herself out of trouble, that job always fell to Bill, and cushy media types like CNN (Gergen and Carville are unbiased commentators?).

The true Hillary is emerging now though. Weak, inexperienced, unsure of her positions, a poor communicator. Penn's job is difficult, and he is failing at it.

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jerry/corpus christi texas — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:41:35 GMT

Goes to show Hillary only cares about the little people only when her name is on the line.

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Marbw — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:12:05 GMT

For the poll watchers here:
I was watching Joe Scarb's show(MSNBC) this morning when Zogby was on the phone(responding to Mark Penn-HRC's guy dismissing Zogby).
The gist of what he said was:
Zogby has been using online polling for a years now(says phone calls are not as reliable as before). He polls by using the email list that he has on file. He got 17 out of 18 results correct in 2006. Their #1 request for his poll results comes from the Clintons over the years. The Gallup poll showing her ahead of GOP(that was widely reported this week) is actually about 2 weeks old. Zogby's latest 11/26/07:

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews2.dbm?ID=1393

Her campaign is in panic mode. Mark Penn needs a vacation(so does BClinton/JJackson/TVilsack/along with GFerraro).

Strategic Vision poll 11-14-07.....Clinton 29% and Obama 27%. Latest poll this week.....Clinton 29% and Obama 29%.

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Carrie, Eastern Iowa — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:24:34 GMT

Marbw: The poll states that it was done with 9150 volunteers. How did they select these people?

As I noted to Bee earlier, for a poll to be accurate, the sample must be random and representative. When your sample is made up of volunteers, there has to be some way to level it out to make sure the sample conforms to those requirements.

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John B, Des Moines, IA — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:30:23 GMT

HRC has spent plenty of time in RURAL Iowa, it's WESTERN Iowa that they've mostly ignored until now. Traditionally Democrats mostly ignore the 5th district of insane Rep. Steve King because it is so overwhelmingly conservative. This campaign is different because there are so many strong Democrats and they are very close in the polls. Suddenly the minor pool of votes to be had in western Iowa becomes important. Clearly the Clinton campaign has been blinded by conventional wisdom and now is playing catch up.

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Tom, Eastlake, OH — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:45:58 GMT

It sounds like whoever is running the Hillary campaign in Iowa doesn't know Iowa. Still, for any other candiate to stand a chance, they have to come in ahead of Clinton in Iowa.

By the way, for those of you pointing out the Zogby poll for evidence that Clinton is slipping, check this out. http://www.pollster.com/blogs/zogby_internet_poll_trial_heat.php

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RuthieM — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:00:35 GMT

As usual, Obama driving this campaign, as all the followers -- Clinton, Edwards -- tag along, follow his lead, call it their own move, while trying to mow him down in the process. Go Obama go!!!

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From one of the other 49 states — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:40:54 GMT

Who is whining here? Sounds like you, actually. The piece is not about Iowans whining - it's about a particular campaign strategy (attention to weekly newspapers) and how it is being implemented in Iowa. Maybe if you were not so busy screaming about how you don't feel slighted you would have noticed that.
Carrie, Eastern Iowa (Sent Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:34 AM)

Ahem, let me clarify a few things for the Iowan. I've watched this circus since it started getting under way in January, and there pretty much hasn't been a day that went by that Iowa hasn't been visited by someone running for higher office. So when people from Smalltown Iowa papers start complaining that they can't get interviews, then write a piece stating "Clinton Just Doesn't Have Time for Us", that is what I have a problem with. Biden, Dodd, Richardson apparently aren't kissing the right butts either. Instead of talking to the people, they should be talking to Reporters more? Doesn't anyone in Iowa make a decision based on their own thoughts and feelings, not on what someone else tells them? I wonder why they want to be first in the nation to hold caucuses, sounds like they need someone else to go first and tell them who they should vote for.

P.S. I WOULD CONSIDER TYPING IN ALL CAPS TO BE CONSIDERED SCREAMING

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Bob in Denver — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:09:22 GMT

Well, Jerry we'll just have to wait and see who wins Iowa, won't we? (Newt Gingrich thinks Obama will win big. Just another opinion.) I wish I knew how to bet on that internet site that handicaps the campaigns. I could make a lot of money because it seems to follow traditional media converage, which we all agree is miserable. I've made a lot of money betting on the incompetence/disastrous Bush administration by investing in foreign stocks and bonds, energy and defense stocks. My philosophy is if you can't beat the morons, you can at least make money off of them.

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Prady Wilson, Nashville TN — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:27:42 GMT

"(Newt Gingrich thinks Obama will win big. Just another opinion.) "

Newt is fairly good at predicting these things. He did set Hillary up though a few months ago, setting high expectations for her to cruise to an easy Iowa win. Now it's probable that she won't win in Iowa, and it's possbile she won't even come in 2nd. It's looking more and more like a Howard Dean type finish for her in Iowa.

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Peter Gallagher — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:30:13 GMT

We generally take a walk when Chris Mathew's program is on since he seems to pander to the Obama and Republican Party. We return from our walk just in time to catch our favorite program - Count Down. It is a shame MSNBC can't find better spokespersons than "Chris Mathew's and this Goodmorning Joe

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Peter Gallagher — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:33:31 GMT

Newt Gingrich is sooo savy. He lasted in politics long enough to help destroy our nation with all the conservatives and GW running the show. What a disaster to our USA

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Elizabeth Sullivan, San Diego, CA — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:58:13 GMT

DEMOCRATS:

Let's win this election. Not by the skin of our teeth. Not by the narrowest of margins. Let's win this election by coming together as a country, with Republicans, and put this country back on track.

Chuck Hagel in the New York Observer:

“Now, Joe Biden: I’m very close to Joe Biden’s philosophy about foreign policy. I suppose of all the candidates out there, including McCain, I’m probably closer to Joe Biden. I think Biden would be a very good president.”

During these ruminations, Mr. Hagel also complained about the brevity required of the candidates during debates and about the media’s concentration on the presumed front-runners.

Deriding the style of the debates as resembling a “poor man’s Gong Show”, he asserted that the candidates “haven’t had the chance, most of them, to articulate the depth of a philosophy about foreign policy.

“On the Democratic side, the media just pays attention to three candidates—Hillary and Obama and Edwards. So guys who actually have something to say, like Biden and Dodd—not that the other three don’t—but those guys get shoved off into the background and they are lucky to get 30 seconds of anything.”

BIDEN/HAGEL '08

(HILLARY CLINTON for SENATE MAJORITY LEADER - she makes history without Bill)