Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., may have had a better shot at the White House if she were younger, a University of Iowa study suggests.
Study leader Michael Lovaglia, a sociologist in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said research indicates Americans expect women to reach their peak performance as leaders at age 43 — four years before men’s perceived peak at age 47. …
And up on Capitol Hill, which houses a slush fund of superdelegates, several senators who have been uncommitted were holding a meeting at the headquarters of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Our colleague Carl Hulse tells us that Senators Ken Salazar of Colorado, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Tom Carper of Delaware, were among those attending.
Carl said that senators indicated that they convened a meeting to decide on a “unity” strategy as to whether they could come together once the polls close tomorrow night to announce their selection. …
“It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee,” said Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor and a national co-chairman of Clinton’s campaign. “After Tuesday’s contests, she needs to acknowledge that he’s going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him.”
But Clinton herself on Sunday argued a case for staying in the race and even trying to capture Obama’s own delegates. …
MATTHEWS: Daughter of former governor of Ohio, John Gilligan. She‘s born to the role. What do you think? Now that we‘re all doing the hot shot stuff, Jeanne, who do you think it‘s going to be, ignoring my feeble list?
CUMMINGS: My dream picks or fantasy picks are Tom Vilsack of Iowa, win the state, bring the governor in, white guy that can talk to the working class. He‘s also a Clinton supporter, so that‘s another way to, you know, reach out to the other side of the party. I‘d throw Ed Rendell into that same category.
MATTHEWS: OK, I think Obama/Vilsack is a hell of a bumper sticker.
Several figures who backed Clinton from key swing states could fill the governing hole in Obama’s resume and build a bridge to the Clinton supporters. They are Iowa Gov. TOM VILSACK, Ohio Gov. TED STRICKLAND and Indiana Sen. EVAN BAYH, a former governor. …
In Iowa, the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Barack Obama leading John McCain 44% to 42%. This is the third consecutive poll to find the candidates very close in the state that gave Obama his first victory on the way to the Democratic Presidential Nomination. A month ago, it was Obama by four. In February, it was Obama by three. …
As for Iowa Governor Chet Culver (D), 35% say he is doing a good or excellent job while 30% give him poor marks.
In the unlikely event that Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she trails McCain in Iowa by a 45% to 42% margin. …
Former Iowa Dem. Party chief apologizes for blog post mention of ‘Monica’s blue dress’
Things that Bill Clinton has said recently about the presidential race have left a “stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica’s blue dress,” Gordon Fischer, a former director of the Iowa Democratic Party, wrote at his Iowa True Blue blog on Sunday, ABC News’ Political Punch reported earlier today.The Clinton campaign, in a conference call it just held with reporters, has condemned the remark — and Fischer has now removed it from his blog and inserted this apology. His analogy was “tasteless and gratuitous,” Fischer writes. …
Sarah Swisher, a superdelegate and member of the SEIU from Iowa City, had committed to Edwards. After he quit the race, she switched to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she changed her mind again after her union endorsed Obama. “That will be kind of cool,” Swisher said. “I will have supported all three.” …
Barack Obama’s resounding victory in Iowa is creating intense pressure on black leaders who have backed Hillary Clinton, and it has exposed a generation gap between cautious older black preachers and politicians and their younger counterparts and students. …
ON BOARD THE CLINTON PLANE — After pouring millions of dollars and nearly a year of effort into a win in Iowa, senior staffers for Democrat Hillary Clinton now say the state isn’t that important after all.
“The worst thing would be to over count Iowa and its importance,” said chief strategist Mark Penn, just hours after the New York senator finished in a disappointing third place, behind Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
“Iowa doesn’t have a record of picking presidents. We’re in a strong position to move forward,” Penn told a handful of reporters on board a chartered midnight flight that took Clinton staffers and such high-level supporters such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from Des Moines, Iowa, to Manchester, N.H.