Ad-ing It All Up

The news stories from Iowa are all about the Democratic presidential candidates swinging away at one another with the caucuses now just five days away.

Howard Dean's new ad is critical of Rep. Dick Gephardt and Sens. John Edwards and John Kerry, calling them "Washington politicians" and criticizing their votes for the war with Iraq. So much for "a new style of politics."

But, the chatter (whether accurate or not) this morning is that he's lined up the endorsement of former President Jimmy Carter and so he'll be in Georgia on the day before the caucuses rather than stumping in Iowa. If he really does have Carter's endorsement, it could just as easily wait until Tuesday or Wednesday so the candidate could stay in Iowa and make his final push for votes. But, that's an indication of confidence and a candidate running a national versus a one-state or regional campaign. In that respect, he does seem to be taking a page from the George W. Bush 2000 playbook with a goal of simply outlasting the others over the long haul.

Gephardt is airing a new spot pounding on virtually all the other candidates on this issue of trade. His line: He opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement and Dean, Kerry, Sen. Joe Lieberman and Wesley Clark didn't. (I doubt Clark was actively supporting NAFTA while he was in uniform. But, it's an indication that Gephardt probably is slipping, needs to shore up his traditional union support and he's just firing away at the crowd.)

Edwards continues to run his "Two Americas" ad, which points out that rich people send their kids to fancier schools and can afford better health care than the rest of us and, of course, it's all President Bush's fault. It plays to Democrats who are tired of the intra-party attacks and that's the audience he's hoping will boost him to a stronger-than-expected showing.

Kerry has gone back to reminding us he served in Vietnam. His campaign is running radio ads with sailors who served under his command. I'm not sure how effective that strategy will be in the caucuses, but it's his choice. And we'll see how it works out.

That's the latest from Iowa.