More on Obama strategy from today's AP article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_p o/obama_s_plan

The Obama strategy for Iowa, outlined by Hildebrand in an interview with The Associated Press and confirmed by other advisers, is three-pronged:

1. Keep Clinton's support down.

Obama has to be careful about how he makes the case against Clinton, since he's campaigning on the need for a new kind of politics of hope instead of rivals tearing each other down. He's been taking the indirect approach - criticizing the actions of the Washington establishment and letting voters and the media make the connection to Clinton.

``People hold Barack to a different standard in politics because of his own rhetoric,'' Hildebrand said. ``He can't turn to Hillary and say, `You can't get elected because you're too polarizing. ... It's got to be in his own voice. It's got to be measured. It's got to be appropriate. It's got to be factual.''

2. Keep Edwards from surging ahead.

Obama's advisers insist they do not see Edwards as a threat for the nomination even if he wins Iowa because he doesn't have enough money to continue an aggressive campaign in the 24 other states that will follow within a month. But if Edwards emerges as the top competitor with Clinton after the Iowa results, it could squeeze Obama out.

That's why the campaign spent so much time trying to keep Edwards from getting the endorsement of the Service Employees International Union last month. Anything that gives Edwards a boost comes at a cost to Obama, and so far SEIU has withheld its endorsement.

3. Continue building Obama's support among both traditional and nontraditional voters.

Obama will have plenty of resources to air television ads across all the early voting states, plus he has a large field staff in those states working intensively to recruit supporters and keep them on board. Hildebrand said 1,900 new supporters signed up the week before the interview, more than half of whom had never caucused before.

The campaign is trying to drum up supporters who are often overlooked in politics, with much of the effort geared toward blacks and young people - even high school seniors.

``If they show up every Wednesday night to volunteer in your local office, do you think they aren't going to show up on election night?'' Hildebrand said, wearing a T-shirt that said ``Building a Grassroots Movement'' with the Obama campaign logo.

I can't remember if it was Yepsin or Fineman on Hardball the other night (both on at the same time) that said Obama has not been sharp on the stump in Iowa.

They did give him high marks for spending a lot of time there and doing the retail politics.

Gave this a recommend as good field work never gets enough respect or talked about enough either. That said I'd heard from a friend in Iowa that (at least a couple months back) Obama's people weren't doing a great job on the phones at all.

They'd call and ask if the person was supporting Obama and if they said no then they'd just say thanks and bye rather than trying to perhaps poke around as to why not and change their mind or at least see if Obama may be able to be their second choice. Second choices are critical in a caucus especially if their first choice is a minor candidate likely to either drop out before Iowa or not be viable in their precinct.

Wow, comparing Barack Obama to Dan Quayle.  Pretty insightful.