Hillary Clinton Takes First Campaign Swing
Jan. 26, 2007 — -- The full, official schedule still hasn't been released, but Iowa knows she's coming.
Sen. Hillary Clinton will fly into Des Moines late today to begin a weekend whirlwind trip through the state. The schedule will include stops in Cedar Rapids and Davenport.
It's been quite a while since Clinton set foot in the Hawkeye State, and she's never spent much time on the rubber chicken circuit there.
Her last visit was in November 2003, when she spoke at the Iowa Democratic Party's big Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Des Moines.
In 1992, however, her then-governor husband basically skipped the state, ceding the Iowa caucus victory to hometown favorite, Sen. Tom Harkin.
In 1996, with President Clinton the clear nominee for re-election, there was little reason to travel to the cornfields of Iowa. And in 2000, Al Gore was working to distance himself from his years with the Clintons, and Hillary Clinton was busy with her own campaign for U.S. Senate in New York.
With the first caucus in the nation, Iowa demands attention. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., has spent much of his time there since being on the losing ticket in 2004. He has traversed the state and is very popular there.
"I'm strong in Iowa, strong in New Hampshire, strong in all the primary states, and the campaign is just beginning. I feel very good about it," Edwards told ABC News.
Sen. Barack Obama has also been to Iowa a number of times and received rock-star treatment there.
Clinton's team is well aware that it needs to make inroads in that state and other early primary states quickly.
Much like her successful listening tour of upstate New York, which led to her Senate victory in 2000, campaign organizers plan to have the senator speak in intimate settings, where she can talk to voters one on one.
"Our challenge, what we need to do now, is to get Hillary Clinton out to meet with the voters, to talk to them, to talk to them in small groups, and let her explain her positions," said Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton friend and national chairman for Clinton's campaign.
It may take a while to win voters over. As one Iowa resident told ABC News, "I don't think she'll play well in Iowa because I don't think she's hands-on, very personal, very close. I am having a hard time picturing her winning in the coffee shops in Iowa."
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