Joe Biden will be happy if he just doesn't lose too badly.
"Our goal is to come in fourth," said Luis Navarro, campaign manager for Biden, speaking at a campaign rally in a downtown Des Moines' restaurant that attracted more than 500 people.
In contrast, an Obama rally at the same time across town filled a school gymnasium.
The Biden folks aren't giving up, however. If Biden doesn't receive enough support to be viable on Thursday night, the dozen supporters with whom I spoke said they'll first try to recruit supporters from other non-viable candidates--Dodd, Kucinich, Richardson. If that doesn't work, they'll remain undecided.
Not one supporter with whom I spoke said she or he would go with one of the top three candidates, Clinton, Edwards or Obama.
"Jimmy Carter came in second to undecided in Iowa," John Washburn reminded me.
Overall, Biden supporters reiterated the Delaware senator's experience as the top reason to caucus for him.
"Ending the war is the key answer to everything else," said Jan Svec. "Biden has the connections and credibility in Washington to get that done."
They also lamented that the mainstream media had not paid more attention to their candidate. "He hasn't had the exposure or star power to attract the media," said Washburn. On the other hand, Washburn admitted that Iowa, where the candidate can speak directly to voters, had given Biden more of a shot than he might have had with his limited budget and resources.
"The top three campaigns are so organized," Washburn said. "They have the money, marketing, and people to create strong networks."
If Biden supporters perceive themselves as more on their own, they're stoic about it. Leaving the restaurant, their faces already pink with the cold, almost every person had some bit of campaign paraphernalia. "The Biden signs are the best," another reporter observed. "They're so sturdy."
"I keep running into people who say, "I'd really like to vote for Biden, but he's not electable, is he?" (Indeed, there's a significant amount of subterranean Biden yearning out here.)"
Hopefully the "subterranean Biden yearning" will surface big time on Thursday.
In a radio interview today on the Ed Schulz Show, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said Biden could surprise everyone with a stronger than expected showing.
A Time article from Ames, Iowa has people from Clinton, Edwards & Obama campaigns jumping ship to caucus for Biden.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/
article/0,8599,1699170,00.html
And why wouldn't they? Once people actually hear Biden speak, everything falls into place. The lightbulb suddenly goes on.
Other candidates have their pluses, but everything comes together in Biden.
How many residents of either state can draw a map containing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq?
For that matter, how many residents of ANY state?
Please wake up Americans.
I cannot bring myself to support anyone in the top three. What a disaster!!
Senator Dodd is also a very smart and experienced candidate.
* Biden
* Richardson
* Dodd
Because of these three, I have dumped my support for the top three and now am totally undecided with the FL Primaries coming up January 29th.
I'd like to see Chris Dodd take over as Senate Majority leader ASAP.
I just followed the link - the Daily Kos just dropped their support of Obama. They are going to wait this out to see who to support but they have decided Obama is a campaign fraud. 800 posts.
What is interested to me, is that these bloggers only see three choices, Edwards, Clinton, and Obama. They have never be made aware of Biden, Richardson, Dodd - all who have personally written articles on Huffington Post.
Apparently many people have bought the mainstream media's and internet pop-ups in which there are only 3 choices.
I also looked at CNN's "polls" and again I see that when you add up the numbers - it's only 75% of the vote between the "3" candidates. I've noticed this for some time now. So, why only 75% - that means either 25% are undecided which is as many votes as those supporting the tope "3" or there are 25% split among Biden, Richardson - probably not Dodd or Kucinich - they've always polled at 1%.
Hum...There is light at the end of the tunnel...