Candidates make last-minute Iowa appeals

updated 7:37 p.m. ET Jan. 2, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa - Presidential candidates are making a final plea to Iowans: Turn out for Thursday's caucuses. Democrat Barack Obama says the "only thing that counts" is showing up. And Republican Mike Huckabee is urging followers to "rent a van" or even "hijack your church's bus" to get bodies to the precincts. Polls are tight for the leading Republicans and Democrats.

Candidates are making last-minute appeals, mixing rallies and events with longer-than-usual ads on television. Then there's appearances on Leno and Letterman.

Huckabee plans to chat with Leno at a Burbank studio on the "Tonight Show," while Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton planned a short cameo on Letterman.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is getting some star power by appearing at a free John Mellencamp concert on Wednesday night.

Volunteers spent most of their time making telephone calls and going door to door to get out the vote.

One poll says Clinton and Mitt Romney are in the lead. Another says Obama and Huckabee are ahead. Many voters haven't locked in their support yet.

At least 130,000 Democrats and 80,000 Republicans are expected to participate in nearly 1,800 neighborhood meetings across Iowa.

Outcome unpredictable in tough race
Uplifting appeals largely replaced stinging insults Tuesday as Democratic and Republican candidates did the only thing left to do in Iowa races that are too close to call — encourage supporters to vote for them.

"The polls look good, but understand this — the polls are not enough. The only thing that counts is whether or not you show up to caucus," Obama told a fired-up crowd of young and old packed into a high school gymnasium.

Amid murmurs of "Amen!" at a pizza parlor in Sergeant Bluff, Huckabee urged hundreds: "Don't go alone. Take people with you. Fill up your car. Rent a van. Hijack your church's bus, whatever you've got to do to get people to the caucus who are going to vote for me."

Candidates made the pitch repeatedly as they canvassed the state for Thursday's caucuses, the first votes of the presidential nominating process. At least 130,000 Democrats and 80,000 Republicans are expected to participate in 1,781 neighborhood meetings at schools, fire stations and community centers across Iowa on what is forecast to be a clear but cold night.

New polls show both races competitive, the outcomes extraordinarily unpredictable.

Among Democrats, Obama, an Illinois senator, is fighting with Clinton of New York for the lead as Edwards of North Carolina gives them strong chase. Two former governors, Huckabee of Arkansas and Romney of Massachusetts, are vying for first on the Republican side.

Given the tightness, turning out voters will be critical.

Thus, hordes of volunteers made thousands of get-out-the-vote phone calls Tuesday, the campaigns rolled out uplifting television ads and the candidates made their pitches on the first day of 2008. The efforts were intended to maximize media exposure and voter outreach.

There were signs that Democratic voters are more energized than Republicans.

Video Paul: 'Message striking a cord' Jan. 2: MSNBC's Amy Robach talks with Republican political candidate Ron Paul. MSNBC

Democrat Joe Biden, who ranks in the low single digits in polls, attracted 500 people to a noontime event at a Des Moines brewery, a bigger crowd than any Republican candidate usually gets.

Obama's campaign drew crowds at or over capacity. When he asked for a show of hands, many people said they'd never been to a caucus. In a boost for Obama, Democrat Dennis Kucinich asked his supporters to support Obama if he doesn't meet the cutoff point for voting in the caucuses.

As they campaigned in Iowa, all but one candidate, Romney, shunned the negativity that spiked in recent weeks.

Playing nice
Obama, Clinton and Edwards played nice. Huckabee made good on a promise to clean up his act, after he held a news conference Monday to say he wouldn't run a critical ad against Romney — but then showed it to a room full of reporters and cameramen.

"It does remind you a bit of a person who stands up and says 'I'm not going to call my opponent any names, but here are the names I'd call him if I were going to call him names,'" Romney told reporters in Johnston.

Romney continued his ads against Huckabee. He also assailed Huckabee's defense of his own failure to read the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran last month.

"President Bush didn't read it for four years; I don't know why I should read it in four hours," Huckabee said in an interview published Monday in the Mason City Globe Gazette.

Romney seized on the comment: "I'm not sure whether Governor Huckabee meant the attack as a joke, but this is not a time to be mocking our president, and it was I think in bad taste."

A multimillionaire, Romney also indicated that he had funneled more of his personal fortune into his campaign, but wouldn't say how much. He had contributed $17 million through September.

Print this Email this Blog this  IM this

MORE FROM DECISION '08

Decision '08 Section Front

NYT: On McCain, Obama and a Hamas link What's important this election, Mom? AP: Obama takes superdelegate lead Newsweek: McCain ally worked for Myanmar's junta A crash course in true political science Newsweek: Clinton says Obama can't win 'white Americans' McCain likely to be outspent in election Q&A: Rep. James Clyburn Edwards speaks with NBC's 'TODAY' Russert: Painful period for Clinton campaign Decision '08 Section Front   Add Decision '08 headlines to your news reader: