It’s a race to the finish line and the candidates and their campaigns are pulling out all the stops. Some are high-dollar — like the two-minutes-worth of air time that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have purchased on every Iowa television station’s six o’clock newscast to make their case.
Others are low-dollar events like the pancake breakfast John Edwards hosted in Centerville this morning. Edwards is in the midst of a 36-hour marathon, speeding around the state, giving an abbreviated speech at each stop. By comparison, Clinton spoke for nearly an hour this morning at a church in Indianola, rattling off a laundry list of her accomplishments.
"Long before I was ever in public office I was in public service. I was an activist. I cared about trying to better lives for people who needed somebody on their side. I wrote a book called ‘It Takes a Village’ and there is a chapter entitled ‘Every Child Needs a Champion,’" Clinton said. "Well, I think the United States needs a president who is a champion of the American people again and that is what I am offering you."
Barack Obama has extended his speeches beyond an hour on occasion to try to sway the undecided voters in the crowds. Obama’s headlining rallies in the cities of Davenport, Coralville, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Des Moines today. Clinton, too, is holding rallies eastern and central Iowa hoping to motivate her supporters.
"So, please, put on your coats, warm up the car, call your friends, pick up a buddy, come out to caucus tomorrow night and together, we will make history," Clinton said to close her speech this morning in Indianola.