Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has renewed his call for Iowans to lobby Senator Chuck Grassley to be among the Republicans pressuring President Bush to change course in Iraq.

Earlier this week, Grassley said it was not "senatorial" for Obama to come into Iowa this past Sunday and make such a statement, but the Illinois Senator said it again in Indianola on Thursday night. "I talked to Chuck on the floor of the Senate and it’s nothing personal. I think Chuck is a good and decent man. He and I have had a terrific relationship and we’ve worked together on a lot of things in the past," Obama said during an interview with Radio Iowa. "What I said in Waterloo, though, stands which is that if we want to bring this war to a close we need 16 votes in the Senate for a veto-proof majority…because this president doesn’t seem to be willing to give any kind of definitive timeframe for bringing our troops home."

On Wednesday, Grassley accused Obama of lacking "political class" by coming into Iowa and issuing such a challenge to a fellow senator on his home turf. In a written statement, Obama said he’s not interested in "Washington etiquette."

"I think that this is too important to pretend that it’s not an issue," Obama told Radio Iowa. "We can express sort of the sense of urgency that’s needed during the course of this campaign, that people need to get involved and let their legislators know how they feel."

In the on-going test of wills in the nation’s capitol, President Bush said Thursday that he would accept an Iraq war spending plan that includes political and military goals for the Iraqi government. Obama says that seems like "empty" talk to him. "First of all, these benchmarks should have been in place two, three years ago. I don’t know exactly what the administration’s been telling the Iraqi government, but it is important for us to send a message that we’re not going to be there forever," Obama says. "Without any consequences, though, benchmarks alone don’t mean much."

During an interview with Radio Iowa on Thursday afternoon, New York Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton labeled Bush’s "benchmark" offer as evidence "the message may be getting through to Bush" that the country wants U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq.

Obama held a town hall meeting in a Simpson College gymnasium on Thursday night and he began by reminiscing about his previous visit to Indianola, as the main draw for Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry last fall.

The crowd last night was much smaller, about 250. "The last time I was in Indianola I had a great time at the Harkin steak fry.  We had a huge turn-out and in fact, that was my first visit to Iowa as a U.S. Senator so in some ways Indianola’s maybe responsible for me taking this path that I’m on.  I don’t know whether my wife thanks you or not," Obama said, as the crowd laughed. 

During a speech Sunday afternoon in Indianola, Illinois Senator Barak Obama urged Americans to reject the notion our country’s current battles are more difficult than what previous generations of Americans have endured.

Obama, a Democrat in his first term in the U.S. Senate, was the keynote speaker at Senator Tom Harkin’s annual fall fundraiser and, according to Harkin, “a lot of famous people” like Bill Clinton and Al Gore had been in Obama’s shoes before, but Harkin told the crowd of three-thousand on Sunday that he decided to try something different this year. “I thought ‘Well, why not try the kid next door?’ Harkin said, to cheers from the audience. “I thought, you know, ‘What the heck, give the kid a chance.’ You know he doesn’t get much press.”

More than 20 cameras were positioned on the platform to record Obama’s speech, and when Harkin mentioned Obama’s recent appearance on the cover of Vogue magazine, women in the crowd started hooting and hollering. “Honestly, to tell you the truth, I really tried to get Bono this weekend,” Harkin said. “I couldn’t get him so I settled for the second-biggest rock star in America today.”

The moment Obama arrived on the Warren County Fairgrounds, people began clamoring to get their picture taken with him. Several people thrust books toward him. Obama signed one held by sixth-grader Bailey McGuire. Her dad, 47-year-old Mick, drove all the way from Omaha to get that book signed by Obama. “A potential president of the United States, we hope,” McGuire said.

Mary Lynn Jones of Des Moines was in the throng around Obama. “I think he’s very charismatic and he’s genuine…I’m just pleased to have met him because when he becomes president I can say ‘You know, he touched this hand,’” Jones said, laughing and gesturing with her right hand.

Julia Naylor of Fort Dodge didn’t settle for a handshake. “Oh, I got to hug him,” she said. Naylor’s hoping Obama becomes president someday, just not anytime soon. “Because I’m afraid they’d kill him,” she told reporters. “I don’t think the United States is ready for a black president.”

Later in the afternoon, Obama spoke for over half an hour, touching on his own biography as well as the political issues of the day. “We’ve got a lot of work to do all across the country because everywhere I go, I get a sense that people want a change,” Obama said.

“…Our fathers and our grandparents and our greatgrandparents have overcome much greater challenges than the ones we face today,” Obama said. The runs counter to President Bush’s contention that the U.S. is involved in a struggle with terrorists for the future of civilization. “I have had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics,” Obama said.

Obama suggested Democrats, to be successful, have to give Americans a “sense of hopefulness” about the future. “It’s time for everybody here to kick off their bedroom slippers and put on their marching shoes. It is time for us to realize that our parents and our grandparents faced greater challenges…and yet somehow they were able to accomplish what people thought was impossible,” Obama said. “That’s the essense of America.”

Harkin’s annual “steak fry” gives other Democratic candidates in the state a chance to speak before hundreds of Democratic party activists. Seldon Spencer, the Democrat who’s running against Republican Congressman Tom Latham, used his time at the microphone to rail at President Bush. “I think we need to be afraid of an administration that sends us into a war that we didn’t need to go into…and I think we need to be afraid of an administration that questions you when you want to dissent,” Spencer said. “I’m tired of this fake patriotism that believes self-sacrifice is all about giving somebody a tax cut. That’s wrong.”

Two men who have been laying plans to run for president got their turn at the microphone. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner was allowed to speak to the crowd for two minutes. Later, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was allotted five minutes and spoke over twice as long. Vilsack started by calling Harkin the finest senator in the country, a little dig at the keynote speaker. “With all due respect, Senator Obama, it is after all the Harkin steak fry,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack introduced Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver to the crowd, and Culver asked the more than three-thousand Democrats to vote, volunteer, and make sure his name is visible in yard signs and stickers. “I’m counting on you folks. Who needs sleep?” Culver asked. “Sleep just makes you groggy.”

After that line-up of Democrats, Harkin spoke for about 20 minutes and threw some rhetorical red meat at the crowd that had lined up earlier in the afternoon for grilled steaks. “Nothing does my spirits better than standing in front of a lot of fed-up and fired up and charged up Democrats ready to take ‘em on,” Harkin said. “The polls show it: Democrats are up and Republicans are down and that’s the way God meant it to be.”

A 45-year-old United States Senator who has repeatedly said he’s not interested in running for president in 2008 is set to make a closely-watched debut on Iowa’s political stage this weekend.

Illinois Senator Barak Obama will be the main draw this Sunday for Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s annual fall fundraiser in Indianola. Presidential candidates like Al Gore and John Edwards and even former President Bill Clinton have stood in Obama’s place in years past at the Harkin steak fry.

Senator John Kerry is in Indianola tonight, appearing at a fundraiser for Denise O’Brien, the Democrat who’s running for state Ag Secretary. Kerry will be in Iowa City Saturday for tailgating before the Iowa/Iowa State game. Kerry’s not choosing sides in that contest, by the way. But Kerry says he’ll continue to “draw the lines” between the path Democrats want to take and what President Bush has pursued. “We have got to redeploy our forces in order to win the war on terror. The Administration is letting Afghanistan fall backwards and focused in the wrong place,” Kerry says. “Why are there seven times the number of troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan since it’s Afghanistan that saw the launching of the attacks against the United States? That’s where the Taliban and al Qaeda were, not in Iraq.”

The list of other potential presidential candidates of the future who are in Iowa this weekend is long. Indiana Senator Evan Bayh was in Iowa earlier today to speak at the United Auto Workers convention. Former Virginia Senator Mark Warner will speak at Harkin’s steak fry Sunday in what’s being billed as the “pre-program.” Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack will be the first speaker on the “main program” according to Harkin staffers.