Kerry, late to Iowa, sees chance to stand out
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 8/18/2003
DES MOINES -- Senator John F. Kerry and his local campaign staff believe their work in Iowa's political fields -- like the corn in farm fields that stands ready for harvest -- is about to generate a bounty in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It would be an achievement, given that at the start of the year, he had yet to visit the nation's first voting state as an official candidate. And some of his rivals have perceived advantages.
Among labor leaders once thought to be sure backers of Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, some key players are throwing their support Kerry's way, in part because they believe the Massachusetts senator would be a stronger candidate in a race against President Bush. Those labor leaders include the heads of the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Building Trades, who supported Gephardt in his 1988 presidential campaign, and the Hawkeye Labor Council.
State political leaders, some of whom were given boosts in their own election campaigns last year by the financial largesse of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, are steadily signing up with the Kerry team. Last week they included a state senator from the Central Iowa district that covers a coveted group of labor union members at the main Maytag appliance manufacturing plant.
And likely voters, some of whom have been wowed by the some 60 days that Howard Dean has spent campaigning in Iowa this year, remain open-minded about Kerry and Dean's other rivals. The first Iowa poll conducted by The Des Moines Register, published Aug. 3, showed Dean, the former governor of Vermont, leading with 23 percent of the vote, followed by Gephardt with 21 percent, and Kerry with 14 percent. A total of 20 percent of those surveyed said they were uncommitted or remained unsure of whom they would back.
Kerry was gratified on Friday, as he wrapped up his 27th day of campaigning this year in the state that kicks off the presidential election with its Jan. 19 caucuses.
"I haven't been here as much as these other guys -- God, almost 50 percent less," the senator said in Iowa City, before he got into his van to head to Cedar Rapids for the final appearance in his four-day, 1,000-mile tour of Iowa. "A lot of people are only still coming to the table. There's a lot of time here. I think it's early still and we're where we want to be."
Read more...
A Breaking News Post was posted two posts below this. See 50 Iowa Labor Leaders Pledge Support for John Kerry!
John Kerry is deffinately Standing Out in Iowa.
By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff, 8/18/2003
DES MOINES -- Senator John F. Kerry and his local campaign staff believe their work in Iowa's political fields -- like the corn in farm fields that stands ready for harvest -- is about to generate a bounty in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
It would be an achievement, given that at the start of the year, he had yet to visit the nation's first voting state as an official candidate. And some of his rivals have perceived advantages.
Among labor leaders once thought to be sure backers of Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, some key players are throwing their support Kerry's way, in part because they believe the Massachusetts senator would be a stronger candidate in a race against President Bush. Those labor leaders include the heads of the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Building Trades, who supported Gephardt in his 1988 presidential campaign, and the Hawkeye Labor Council.
State political leaders, some of whom were given boosts in their own election campaigns last year by the financial largesse of Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, are steadily signing up with the Kerry team. Last week they included a state senator from the Central Iowa district that covers a coveted group of labor union members at the main Maytag appliance manufacturing plant.
And likely voters, some of whom have been wowed by the some 60 days that Howard Dean has spent campaigning in Iowa this year, remain open-minded about Kerry and Dean's other rivals. The first Iowa poll conducted by The Des Moines Register, published Aug. 3, showed Dean, the former governor of Vermont, leading with 23 percent of the vote, followed by Gephardt with 21 percent, and Kerry with 14 percent. A total of 20 percent of those surveyed said they were uncommitted or remained unsure of whom they would back.
Kerry was gratified on Friday, as he wrapped up his 27th day of campaigning this year in the state that kicks off the presidential election with its Jan. 19 caucuses.
"I haven't been here as much as these other guys -- God, almost 50 percent less," the senator said in Iowa City, before he got into his van to head to Cedar Rapids for the final appearance in his four-day, 1,000-mile tour of Iowa. "A lot of people are only still coming to the table. There's a lot of time here. I think it's early still and we're where we want to be."
Read more...
A Breaking News Post was posted two posts below this. See 50 Iowa Labor Leaders Pledge Support for John Kerry!
John Kerry is deffinately Standing Out in Iowa.
posted by Pamela J. Leavey at 5:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home