For Democrats, Change Is of the Essence

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Edwards's Final Iowa Push

John Edwards launches a 36-hour non-stop campaign swing in Ames, Iowa, while The Post's Anne Kornblut assesses the state of the Democratic race.

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That quadrant of her r¿sum¿ puts her more in line with Obama, who is more apt to emphasize his experience as a community organizer in Chicago than as a freshman senator in Washington. To Obama supporters, the emphasis is understandable. Exposure to Washington only creates ties that bind to the status quo.

"The past has hooks," Hodes said.

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, said that "a willingness to challenge conventional ways of thinking," not a conventional r¿sum¿, is what matters in the election of 2008. "Senator Obama believes judgment is what's most important in office and as commander in chief," Plouffe said.

"Change is a collaborative process," Wolfson counters. "We're not talking about single-handedly making change. We're talking about knowing how to effect change."

But in competing with Obama's pitch as the race's clean slate, Clinton may have effectively shifted the fight to Obama's turf.

"Instead of running her election, she seems to be trying to mimic his election, and she cannot do so," Hart said. "She has a superlative case to make as an agent of change, but she's become a candidate of reaction. She's lost her self-confidence."

Staff writer Paul Kane, research editor Alice Crites and staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.