http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1699170,00.htmlCan Biden Defy the Iowa Odds? By JAY NEWTON-SMALL/AMES
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Biden has seen standing room-only crowds, like the one in Ames, across the state in recent weeks. And the Ames audience was twice moved to its feet in ovations for Biden's stump speech — a surprisingly brisk 18 minutes compared to Obama's nearly hour-long closing argument, Hillary's 45-minute speeches and Edwards' typical 35-minute spiel. Biden by comparison spends more than an hour answering questions, a strategy, his communications director Larry Rusky says, that is starting to pay off.
In addition to the large crowds, Biden yesterday signed up more than 100 precinct captains — people who will stand up and argue for him in the individual caucuses — in a single day and has raised $750,000 online in the last month. And while he hasn't budged much in recent Iowa polls, Biden has gained most in the category of experience. Of the 33% of likely Iowa caucus-goers polled by ABC News/The Washington Post who said experience was the most important quality in a candidate, nearly half said they favored Clinton, 15% said Edwards, 10% chose Biden and 9% picked Obama.
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By comparison, during his six years in the Senate, Biden continued, Edwards "only passed four bills and they've all been about post offices, I mean literally, because most freshman Senators don't get things passed. Barack Obama hasn't passed anything. And there's not a major bill that I know of with Hillary's name on it. I mean, where have they generated this change and leadership?"
Biden's campaign has been an old-fashioned retail operation, with him and his family blanketing the state. The strategy worked well for Jimmy Carter, who won his term after investing a lot of time shaking hands and answering every question in Iowa. Biden's large extended family, including his mother, siblings, kids and grandkids, have held more than 2,000 events across the state for him. That's compared to the nearly 140 events Obama's wife and sisters have hosted, 40 events held by Clinton family members including husband former President Bill Clinton, and the few dozen campaign events held by Elizabeth and Cate Edwards.
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Ultimately, Biden thinks enough Iowans will make a late decision to throw their support behind him that he'll be able to go to New Hampshire with a fighting chance. "People are coming up handing me their Hillary buttons, handing me their Edwards buttons. Last night two Obama precinct captains walked up to me and said 'You know, we're switching.'"
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1699170,00.html
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