Big dinner in Des Moines a warm-up for caucus

Monday, Nov. 12, 2007 | 7:06 a.m.

Editors note: Presidential campaigns are now fully engaged in Iowa, preparing for that states first-in-nation caucus Jan. 3. With Nevadas presidential caucus scheduled for two weeks later, the Sun went to Iowa for a glimpse at what might be in store for voters here.

DES MOINES - When Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was announced at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner here Saturday night, the chanting of at least 2,000 supporters began in unison:

"Fired up!" screamed one side of the auditorium.

"Ready to go!" boomed the other.

The insistent chanting only grew louder while Obama made his way through the crowd, and even grizzled old Iowa veterans remarked on the intensity and coordination of the performance.

It was an electric moment, part of the strange ritual of the Iowa caucus, and nothing during the night came close until a call-out by the front-runner, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, who attacked Republican policies and then asked the crowd what they planned to do about it.

"Turn up the heat!" they boomed, again and again.

The Jan. 3 Iowa caucus has become the battleground of the Democratic nomination, as Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, running in a dead heat with Clinton here, try to use the caucus to catapult themselves to the nomination just as Sen. John Kerry did in 2004. Given Clinton's healthy lead in polls of New Hampshire Democrats, who will vote in a Jan. 8 primary, she could finish off her competitors with a solid Iowa win. Nevada Democrats will caucus Jan. 19.

If the candidates split Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada will be a key showdown state. The big coastal states will vote Feb. 5.

The six main Democratic candidates made speeches and appeared together on the stage of the downtown convention hall as a show of unity in front of the 9,000 attendees.

Despite the friendly cheek kisses and handshakes, though, the race has begun in earnest, with the candidates taking jabs at each other in their speeches, and their respective campaigns using the event to show off their organizational muscle.

Adding to the tension, by longstanding rule, the candidates must arrive at the beginning of the event and are not allowed to leave until the end, which means they have to listen to their rivals' speeches.

What was clear from the speeches, as has been through much of the campaign, is that the candidates' policy differences aren't great. Although Clinton is the most moderate in the race, with a more hawkish foreign policy outlook and a friendlier attitude toward free-trade agreements, the differences are still fairly small.

The top-tier candidates are united in their desire to create universal health care, achieve energy independence, reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, reform the No Child Left Behind education law and begin withdrawing American forces from Iraq.

So Iowa Democrats, and then their Nevada brethren, will largely be left to decide based on experience, style, temperament and organizational effectiveness.

Edwards, who spoke first, continued his current line of attack on Clinton, though he didn't mention her by name. He implored Iowa Democrats: "You're in a place to judge who is trustworthy, who is honest, who is sincere, who can restore that trust relationship."

Clinton subtly replied and changed the subject, turning her rhetoric on the Republicans while emphasizing an ongoing theme of her campaign: "There are some who will say they don't know where I stand. I think you know better than that. I stand where I have stood for 35 years. I stand with you." She touted her experience. Then she got the crowd involved:

"So when Republicans try to run the clock back on women's rights and try to stomp out labor unions and undermine civil rights, what are we going to do?"

"Turn up the heat!" yelled her supporters, armed with foam bats often seen at sporting events.

Obama was the final speaker. He attacked Republican policies while telling the Democrats they can no longer be cautious or tentative.

"This party - the party of Jefferson and Jackson, of Roosevelt and Kennedy - has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose - a higher purpose," he said.

The dinner's real purpose, though, was to be a dry run for the caucus. The campaigns tried to rally supporters to show up at a place that for some supporters was hundreds of miles away, and then do as they were told.

The real purpose of the night became clear with the presence of Obama's aides in the press room after his supporters rocked the hall with their chanting. The aides milled about for the rest of the night, beaming.

Clinton aides told The Washington Post that the big Obama crowd was meaningless and questioned whether they would caucus for Obama, or were even old enough to do so.