How Obama Took Iowa



An interesting brief paragraph on Obama, his chief strategist David Axelrod and Iowa from NYMag's John Heilemann:

"Axelrod's sense of confidence was informed by his experience in 2007. For much of that year, Obama lagged Clinton by double-digit margins in the national polls. The campaign's donors became restive, began insisting that the hopemonger had to kneecap the queen-and the press chimed in with similar shopworn advice. But Axelrod and Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, kept their eyes on the prize: the Iowa caucuses. They had a plan and intended to stick to it come hell or high water. The plan was centered on an audacious turnout operation in the Hawkeye State, and also on Obama's delivering a roof-raising, galvanizing speech at the Iowa Jefferson Jackson dinner in November, the traditional kickoff of the home stretch before the caucuses."

Transcript of Obama's Iowa Jefferson-Jackson dinner speech here.