Clinton, Obama Fight For Advantage in Iowa

The speeches ran until well past midnight Eastern time, with the candidates' speeches interspersed with remarks from Iowa's elected officials and even an auction to raise funds for the Iowa Democratic Party. When Dodd got his turn at the microphone, with Clinton and Obama still waiting to speak, he joked, "Welcome to breakfast in Des Moines."

But Dodd quickly turned on Bush and the Republicans, saying they are responsible for "a greater assault on the Constitution" than any other administration in history.

Clinton held a narrow lead in an October Iowa Poll for the Des Moines Register, and her rivals recognize that a Clinton victory here in January could start her on a virtually unstoppable march to the nomination. Nevertheless, strategists here said this week that any of the top three candidates could win the caucuses, and all the campaigns were determined to demonstrate their organizational prowess and the passion of their supporters at Saturday's dinner.

The competition among the campaigns began Friday evening with a "sign war," in which young staffers raced one another to commandeer wall space in the auditorium for their candidates' placards. As the auditorium began to fill with people, the candidates' supporters marched through the corridors chanting, beating drums and raising the noise to ear-piercing levels.

Hours before the dinner, Obama staged a boisterous rally that featured R&B singer John Legend and thousands of supporters wearing red T-shirts with the words "I'm fired up" on the front and "He's ready to go" on the back. Those are chants that Obama uses to close his stump speeches, and they have become a rallying cry for his army of volunteers.

Clinton supporters showcased their own T-shirt brigade, parading through the Veterans Memorial Auditorium and Hy-Vee Hall complex wearing yellow shirts that said "Turn up the heat" on the front and "Turn the country around" on the back -- words that Clinton wove through her speech as she called on Democrats to unite to reverse the administration's policies.

Earlier in the day, Edwards attacked Clinton over an incident earlier this week, in which an Iowa college student said the Clinton campaign had encouraged her to ask a question about global warming. Fox News reported Saturday on a second such incident.

Edwards compared Clinton to Bush, who often campaigned in front of pre-screened audiences. "That's what George does: George Bush goes to events that are staged, where people are screened," he said, according to an account on Politico.com. "That's not the way democracy works in Iowa."

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said: "It is not a standard policy of the campaign, and it's not something we'll do moving forward. The senator has no idea who she is calling on when she's answering questions."

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) and former senator Mike Gravel of Alaska were not invited to speak because they are not running campaigns in Iowa.