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Politics

In Iowa, Oprah hits trail for Obama

On her first campaign appearance, the celebrity backs the Democrat.

By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published December 9, 2007

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey wave from the stage at a campaign event on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa.
	[Getty Images]

DES MOINES, Iowa - If any doubt remained about who has the momentum in the Democratic presidential race, Saturday's spectacle in a Des Moines convention center surely ended it.

Hoprah, let's call it.

There, amid more than 10,000 star-struck Iowans, was Barack Obama, Mr. Audacity of Hope, basking in the glow of Oprah Winfrey, the beloved queen of daytime TV making her first ever appearance on a campaign trail.

"For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," said the billionaire superstar, who acknowledged she wasn't totally comfortable with her new role.

"D--- right, I'm nervous," she said.

Winfrey said that she has voted Republican as often as Democrat and that her appearance had nothing to do with partisanship. Obama, she said, is a uniter.

"I am so tired of politics. That's why you seldom see politicians on my show, because we only have an hour," she said. "When you listen to Barack Obama, when you really hear him, you witness a very rare thing - you witness a politician who has an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth."

The beginning of the end of Hillary Rodham Clinton's once unstoppable march to the Democratic nomination? The high water mark of Obama's Howard Deanish campaign? Or the latest over-hyped twist in a budding John Edwards upset story?

In one of the craziest presidential primaries in modern history, veteran political strategists working the snow-dusted Hawkeye state have no clue. Each of the leading Democratic campaigns sees a dead heat in Iowa.

And the uncertainty over this pivotal election just 25 days away is bipartisan.

Republicans Terry and Judy Bradley of Newton showed up for a Mitt Romney campaign appearance at the historic Fort Des Moines on Friday afternoon and were surprised to see reporters far outnumbering the handful of actual voters.

"I tell you, the one I really want to see is Mike Huckabee. I like the way he comes off, so genuine," confessed Terry Bradley, a guitar teacher and evangelical Christian. "And to me, it doesn't hurt that he's also a Baptist minister."

He's not the only one buzzing about Huckabee. Romney has spent 20 times more money in Iowa than Huckabee, but a new Newsweek poll shows the former Arkansas governor trouncing the former Massachusetts governor, 39 percent to 17 percent.

If Jan. 3 was a normal election, with polls open all day, Huckabee would be a shoo-in in Iowa. Clinton probably would be the Iowa front-runner.

But the Iowa caucuses are arcane rituals where voters show up to neighborhood meetings on a freezing cold night to hear speeches and publicly declare their favorite candidate. Fewer than one in 10 Iowa voters will actually endure the hassle, and winning requires intense campaign organizations to identify and then mobilize their voters.

That's why the Oprah events, which today include stops in New Hampshire and an 80,000-seat stadium in South Carolina, became organizing vehicles in Iowa. Tickets were doled out to precinct organizers, and many people signed up for Obama campaign training tickets in exchange for seeing Oprah.

The woman who can turn books into mega sellers is not just another celebrity endorsement, but her mojo alone may not be enough to deliver voters to Obama. Random interviews at Saturday's event found some Republican-leaning voters and few people who said they definitely intended to caucus.

"She's a great gal, but she's not going to convince one Iowa voter how to vote," said Susan Thies, an avid Clinton supporter from Des Moines who got tickets because she wanted to see the TV star.

Winfrey never mentioned Clinton by name, but she took a clear shot at Clinton's efforts to tout her experience: "The amount of time you spend in Washington means nothing unless you are accountable for the judgment you made," she said.

Unlike the Republicans, all of the Democrats are campaigning hard in Iowa, where a strong showing could catapult a candidate to success in the series of states that quickly follow.

By many estimates, Clinton will be hard to stop if she wins Iowa. At the moment, though, the state looks like trouble for Clinton.

That's why two weeks ago she threw 100 more staffers into Iowa and why her criticism of Obama has become increasingly harsh. But going negative may be risky, especially in the friendly Midwest.

"There's just something about that woman I don't like," said Jackie Juhl, a retired clerk in Waverly who backs Joe Biden. "This country needs real change, and that's not her."

The Newsweek poll released Friday showed Clinton effectively tied with Obama among Iowa Democrats, but trailing him by six points among likely caucusgoers.

Motivating people who have never caucused before, especially blue collar Democrats and senior women, is central to the Clinton strategy in Iowa.

"I get calls from Hillary Clinton's people all the time. Sometimes from Edwards, but Hillary's all the time. They're always really nice and polite, and I would love to see Hillary elected president," said Janelle Badura, a 47-year-old Wal-Mart employee in Des Moines who was persuaded to come to a "Take Your Buddy to Caucus" rally Friday night.

Badura is thinking about caucusing for the first time, but she's not sure. The process sounds complicated, she said.

The primary is often cast as an Obama-Clinton contest but nobody underestimates former North Carolina Sen. Edwards, who has been building his Iowa organization for practically four years. His strength lies in smaller rural counties and in the thousands of seasoned caucusgoers in his corner.

"I'm probably going with John Edwards because I was with him 2004, and he's still the same person. I'm loyal," Dale Johnson, a retired teacher, said after an Obama rally in northeast Iowa.

Obama has not just momentum and Oprah going for him, but an Iowa campaign structure methodically built from the start of the year.

"This is all about relationships," said Paul Tewes, Obama's Iowa's state director. "We felt early on that we wanted to be everywhere and build relationships over time."

Paying off already is the Obama-Winfrey relationship, ensuring that a lot more people pay attention to the candidate who's looking less and less like an underdog.

"You want Oprah as vice president?" he responded to someone's shout from the crowd. "That would be a demotion, you understand that?"

Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com or 727893-8241.

[Last modified December 8, 2007, 22:55:08]