Caucuses get more focus as stretch run begins

Iowa’s first-in-the-nation Caucuses have become even more important as the democratic competitors of Howard Dean, the front-runner in national polls, divert campaign resources and spend more time here. There are just 28 days remaining ’til the January 19th Caucuses, and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry and Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt have been hammering away at Dean. Kerry’s here today for a 24-hour-long campaign marathon. It follows Kerry’s stern foreign policy speech in Iowa last week in which Kerry said Dean has a “fundamental misunderstanding” of America’s role in the world. Kerry says “if Democrats do not stand for making America safer and stronger and more secure, we won’t win back the White House and we won’t deserve to.” Gephardt, the winner of Iowa’s 1988 Caucuses and a leader in many Iowa polls this time around, accused Dean of failing to get his facts straight on whether he met with Enron executives while he was Vermont’s Governor. Meanwhile, North Carolina Senator John Edwards is taking a different path. Edwards says his race isn’t about Governor Dean, and he doesn’t look at what Dean does and react to it.Edwards says it’s “important to lay out a positive, optimistic vision” rather than engaging in “all this day-to-day sniping” among the democrats.Edwards says all the sniping looks entirely political and isn’t what the campaign should be about. Edwards marked a milestone on Sunday when he visited Howard County. Edwards has now campaigned in each of Iowa’s 99 counties. Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich campaigned in Iowa over the weekend, too. His campaign organized a peace march.in eastern Iowa.