With Hillary Clinton’s campaign struggling in Iowa and less than four weeks before the Jan. 3 caucuses there, Rep. Steve Israel flew to Cedar Rapids with hopes of making a difference.
The Huntington Democrat urged support for Clinton by marching in today’s Cedar Rapids holiday parade and attending a Chanukah pot luck dinner.
Israel said his decision to try to help Clinton in Iowa has nothing to do with recent polling there, which shows Clinton trailing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama by a slim margin after leading one month ago.
Martin C. Evans
"If she were 50 points ahead, she would be asking friends to campaign for her," Israel said. "I don’t think she’s in trouble. I always believed it would be a tight race."
An average of several Iowa polls shows support for Obama at 27.2 percent of potential caucus-goers, followed by Clinton, with 25.8 percent and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards with 23.2 percent, according to Real Clear Politics, a political website. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson got 6.8 percent, and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden got 5.6 percent.
Israel will campaign for Clinton again tomorrow morning, greeting potential voters at a restaurant and a farmers market in the morning, then lunching at the Hamburg Inn, an Iowa City favorite for presidential politicking, then attending a meeting of precinct organizers before flying back East in the afternoon.
"I’m going to make the case that she did an incredible job building bipartisan consensus in New York, particularly to strengthen the upstate economy, and that she’ll do the same as president," Israel said.
Comments (2)
Finally Steve Israel is coming out of the liberal closet and dropping his moderate disguise. Anyone that would support, or even worse campaign for a left winger like Hillary Clinton is anything but a moderate. When Long Islanders will wake up to Steve Israel and when the GOP will nominate a credible candidate to run against him, God only knows. Until then we are stuck with a guy who voted to put Nancy Pelosi in the House Speaker's chair.
It defies comprehension that the Democrats would send New Yorkers to Iowa for Hillary. Just as when the major parties would interfere with Conservative party primaries and always lose. These parties didn;t understand what motivates Conservatives. People in Iowa do not like or trust East Coasters. For every one these ambassadors of New York razzle dazzle she is loosing votes. Bill Clinton used to know better. These people do not connect to the midwest.