They Know How to Caucus

Secrets to Success

Edwards, who has made two dozen visits to the state since 2004, is widely credited with having the best Iowa organization. Tully, his Iowa chairman, described the campaign's approach on a recent afternoon while relaxing with a Honduran cigar on a leather couch in the private club he and friends opened in a nondescript Des Moines storefront in response to a proposed state smoking ban.

Edwards was in town to speak to local women at the library, but the garrulous Tully saw no need to be there. His role, he said, is to work behind the scenes at recruiting key backers -- such as Bill Wimmer, a lobbyist who was sitting on the next couch watching "Bonanza" on a wide-screen TV. Wimmer voted for Edwards in 2004 but said he is "enjoying not being tied down right now."

"I'm working on him," said Tully, whose family owned a lumber company in Dubuque. "I'm going to get him before I'm done."

As Tully sees it, this is the secret to success in Iowa: a soft sell over many months, because caucus voters feel obliged to learn about all the candidates.

"The way I do it is to say, 'Listen, we really want you. But I know it's early, so take your time,' " he said. "It's just touching them. It's not a final sale. It's a matter of keeping the process open and trying not to screw it up."

A few blocks from the business park that houses Clinton's and Edwards's Des Moines headquarters, Obama's offices in a converted ice rink are filled with eager young volunteers, evoking a comparison to Dean in 2004. But Jackie Norris and Paul Tewes, the D.C.-based consultants directing Obama's Iowa effort, say they will not repeat his mistakes. As if taking a page from Kerry's playbook, they have adorned a wall with plans for a veterans initiative.

"If we can't build an organization of Iowans who want to talk to other Iowans, that's our own fault," said Tewes, a Minnesota native who helped run Al Gore's 2000 caucus campaign. "If we're putting a lot of attention into bringing out-of-state people in, we're missing the mark."

Vilmain, meanwhile, was on her way from Wisconsin, where she now lives, to Washington last night for meetings at Clinton's national headquarters today. Her relations with campaign upper echelons have not always been the best -- she entered caucus lore in 1988 when, feeling neglected by Dukakis's Boston headquarters, she ordered her staff not to answer Boston's calls for a day, a brassy move at age 28.

The tactic worked, but she sees it as a mistake that she learned from. The philosophy she has developed since, she says, is all about the team, about making sure that everyone knows his or her role and is fulfilling it, and about helping those who are not. It is also about making sure everyone grasps the gravity of the undertaking.

"We have to work hard and work smart. At the end of the day, it's about what's best for Hillary Clinton . . . and about how does your work fit into the overall goal of getting her into the White House," she said. "I don't view this as a game, because it's not always fun. It's hard work. It's a serious business."