Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry will return to Iowa on Thursday — a state where the presidential race is too close to call. Joe Lockhart, a press secretary to President Clinton, has just signed up to speak for the Kerry campaign. “We’re going to do what it takes to win Iowa, and if it means coming back there and making our case, we’ll come as many times as we need to,” Lockhart says. Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, spent a great deal of time in Iowa campaigning for support in the Caucuses, yet the Bush/Cheney ticket is neck-in-neck with Kerry/Edwards in Iowa. Lockhart says the Bush/Cheney campaign “expended an enormous amount of effort in Iowa” the past six weeks. Lockhart says despite the amount of campaign advertising and personal visits to the state, Bush and Cheney haven’t changed the dynamic in Iowa. Lockhart says Kerry and Edwards will be in Iowa a lot between now and November 2nd. Lockhart concedes Kerry was challenged because his general election campaign “season” ended up being five weeks longer than Bush’s because the Democratic National Convention was so much earlier than the G-O-P convention.Lockhart says by “being somewhat frugal,” the Kerry campaign now has more cash on hand than Bush does. Kerry will hold a “town hall meeting” in Davenport and a rally in Cedar Rapids on Thursday.
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