WP,pg1: Dems Gear Up for Final Iowa Appeal: As many as half of voters may be undecided

[DeepModem Mom]

Democrats Gear Up For Final Appeal to Undecided Iowans
By Peter Slevin and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 2, 2007; A01


Campaign worker Susy Bates confers with precinct captains about ways to nudge the supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). "She's ahead in New Hampshire, but the margin is shrinking a bit. If we don't do well here, it will make it harder. One or two more people can give us another delegate," she said. (Peter Slevin/WP)

....Barely a month before Iowa presidential caucuses that are still rated a toss-up, the Democratic candidates have turned to every kind of marketing strategy -- from starlets making conference calls to musicians playing concerts alongside the contenders -- in the increasingly tense final push to persuade voters to show up on Jan. 3 for the inaugural contest of 2008.

Undecided voters, according to several campaigns, may still constitute as much as half of the Democratic electorate, giving fragile hope to underdogs such as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) as they unnerve front-runners Clinton, Obama and Edwards, who have spent millions of dollars to woo them only to find that they cannot lock the voters down....Veteran political observers say the race remains particularly unpredictable, not just because polls show Obama (Ill.) running neck and neck with Clinton (N.Y.), but because Iowa's caucus process allows supporters of second-tier candidates to switch to another contender after the first round.

The front-running campaigns are also concerned about the readiness of their supporters to navigate the caucus system. The Clinton campaign estimates that 6o percent or more of their prospective voters either have never attended a caucus or have not done so in a long time. Obama, too, is counting on energized first-timers, while Edwards, who finished second here in 2004 but trails in buzz and polls, is banking on fresh faces to bolster his more seasoned precinct leaders.

Worried about being outflanked, Clinton has added 100 people to her Iowa staff, raising the total to about 220. Last month, she spent about every second day in Iowa, and her campaign said she will increase that pace this month. But both of her chief rivals, Obama and Edwards, have traveled more widely in Iowa than Clinton, and Obama has outspent her on television advertising here.

The goal for all of them is to win over the undecided voters. Campaign officials describe the pool this year as typically older, more likely to be rural than urban, and more inclined to pick a candidate based on practical issues such as electability rather than on ideological grounds. For instance, rival candidates are wooing Edwards supporters particularly intensively right now, believing that holdovers from his 2004 campaign are increasingly showing up at the events of other candidates and expressing concern about Edwards's consistent third-place finish in the polls....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/01/AR2007120101749_pf.html

[Benhurst]

1. From a perspective of past caucuses, I think this gives a pretty

realistic picture of where the contest stands.

Recommended :kick: #1

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I thought so, too. In short, unpredictable. nt

[Debi]

3. Yep, even all those 'ones' cannot be considered solid

The day of the caucuses will be the day many decide.