Biden bets on Iowa to boost candidacy

[oberliner]

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, behind in polls and campaign money, is betting the farm on Iowa's leadoff caucuses, hoping a strong showing will rocket him to the top of the field.

If not, Biden admits he'll be an early footnote in the race for his party's nomination.

"I'm counting on Iowa a lot," Biden said in an interview with The Associated Press. "My expectation is that I come in first, second or an indistinguishable third. To tell you the truth, if I don't, then this has been a nice exercise and I'll see you again when you come to visit Washington."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070903/ap_on_el_pr/biden_s_bet;_ylt=Avz4CAZXcqg8xqa7K1eiRRGyFz4D

[ribrepin]

1. Go Biden

I like him better than Hillary or Obama.

[Byronic]

2. He's right

Iowa is where Biden will make an impact, if anywhere.

It's a chance for 'retail politics' to come to the fore. Biden is good at that. Whether the Iowa result will be as decisive as it was in 2004 is open for debate.

I don't think Iowa will crown anybody this time round, but, as ever, it will kill off several candidacies.

I wouldn't write off Joe just yet.

[Adelante]

3. "I wouldn't write off Joe just yet."

I don't. He has a fair chance to bring it home by the time of the Iowa caucus.

[saltpoint]

4. Blunt and to the point, admirably so, but perhaps a bit modest.

We'll be into the fall stretch of the campaign in just a few hours now, and the headlines from Iraq are not encouraging.

Voters are not likely to endorse Bush's "surge," and a good many will have tuned him out if they haven't already, as he makes his whiney, "I need more time" pleas and stages these "surprise visits" to Baghdad.

On foreign policy, and for a long time, Joe Biden is an adept. As Bush's war falls to pieces and acrimony this fall, Biden's foreign policy expertise will be heard in the cafes and barber shops of small Iowa towns.

If the currents leaders' voters are at all fluid, and if the already-sad Iraq landscape gets sadder still, I could see Joe Biden contending in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

Stature, experience, and expertise ain't a bad hand at this poker table.

[oberliner]

5. I still think Biden can be this cycle's Kerry

Their styles and backgrounds seem fairly similar.

[saltpoint]

6. I've looked to both those guys over the years for expressions of

issues framed in a way many other Democrats just couldn't seem to manage.

Kerry stunned the pack with that come-from-behind win in Iowa in 04. It's possible that Biden could do the same.

I think Joe Biden's chances are related to the voters' response to Bush's pro-surge/We gotta stay on propaganda on Iraq.

If voters buy more of Bush's BS, Biden's chances are long. If they don't, his voice is going to carry to the back of the room loud and clear.

[PatSeg]

9. They are similar

Though Biden's style comes across as less scripted and more direct. I think he has an excellent chance in Iowa.

[jillan]

7. Probably asking for trouble - but -why do you think

Biden's poll numbers are not moving up?

Personally, I think it is because he is not showing enough confidence in his ability to win.
He needs to do something big.

[PatSeg]

10. The upcoming months will probably be full of opportunities

to draw media attention. How the candidates respond to events yet to happen could determine their future. So I don't think he necessarily has to DO something big, but be the most intelligent, rational voice when the opportunities arise.

I also think he isn't displaying excessive confidence so as not to fuel the image of arrogance that his adversaries like to use against him.

[oberliner]

11. Good question

It does seem like the media has settled on the two-tier concept for candidates and until something surprising happens that's how the candidates will be viewed.

Here is an interesting article from Time magazine called "How John Kerry Won Iowa". Some of it may be applicable to what Biden might be able to do:

http://www.time.com/time/election2004/article/0,18471,579103,00.html

[jillan]

12. I was thinking of how great it was that the IAFF endorsed Dodd

(even tho I was sad they didn't endorse Biden)

Dodd's poll numbers are at the bottom - only lower is Gravel - and
they still endorsed him. They pretty much gave a big f-u to the media.
Good for them!

[jillan]

13. Thanks for posting that link.

I posted it at the Biden group - it gave me hope.

[PatSeg]

8. I've thought for some time that Iowa

would be the "make it or break it" moment for Biden. He knows how to speak to the heartland folks and from what I've seen, they are very responsive to his direct and honest approach.