Obama in dead heat with Clinton in White House race

[tekisui]

DES MOINES, Iowa (AFP) - Barack Obama is hitting his stride, just as Hillary Clinton's Democratic campaign stutters, setting up a closely fought sprint to January's first White House nominating contest.

With the race a statistical dead heat in Iowa, before the crucial nominating caucuses on January 3, and a dogfight in New Hampshire, which votes five days later, both candidates launched one last push to win over undecided voters in Iowa amid freezing winter weather.

Most surveys show Obama rising, and the longtime frontrunner sliding, suggesting that the young senator's timing may be spot on.

Clinton, forced earlier to deny her campaign was in disarray, got a much-needed boost on Saturday, winning the coveted support of the Des Moines Register, Iowa's only statewide daily.

The paper said Clinton's "readiness to lead" set her apart from a "constellation of possible stars" in the Democratic party, especially Obama, who it said had the potential to be a fine president.

"When Obama speaks before a crowd, he can be more inspirational than Clinton. Yet, with his relative inexperience, it's hard to feel as confident he could accomplish the daunting agenda that lies ahead," the paper said.

But looking beyond Iowa to the January 8 first-in-the-nation primary election in New Hampshire, Obama on Sunday won the backing of the influential Boston Globe newspaper, a New England political power broker.

Clinton's campaign, buoyed by the Iowa paper's backing, planned to have the former first lady and her allies visit all 99 of the state's counties in the next five days -- with the help of what it calls the "Hill-A-Copter."

Yet an Obama spurt which began in Iowa appears to be spreading, raising doubts about the notion that Clinton can afford a loss in Iowa, due to a lead in national polls and a 'firewall' in later states.

link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071216/pl_afp/usvote2008obama_071216181542;_ylt=AoTjqdym0yPSKfMvxs3UBq2s0NUE

[wundermaus]

1. it's a three way... remember that Edwards is being shunned...

by the corporate controlled mass media... Edwards is blackballed and for good reason: placing the cross hairs on Fascism.

[silverojo]

2. I wish I could K&R *your* post

John Edwards 2008

[HCE SuiGeneris]

3. A perfect window for J E to step through...

great opportunity awaits his candidacy as the other two become embroiled.

[Mind_your_head]

4. Yeah....sure......

:eyes:

on edit: I don't even know how to begin responding to this post, but Hill's gonna visit 99 counties in 5 days???? Well, lessee here, do the math......

NO, that's not even humanly possible.

Let's hope Iowa has much, much more sense than who ever put this charm out there! Geeeeeeeeeez!