The Trail

LOWERING EXPECTATIONS

Obama Says His Speech Will Be 'Workmanlike'

MOLINE, Ill. -- Barack Obama played down expectations Monday about his convention address on Thursday, saying he expects it to be a more "workmanlike" speech than the one he gave in 2004.

Obama has been working on his convention speech over the past few days and is still refining it. He seemed aware that it will be hard to top the 2004 speech that launched him to national stardom. He also suggested that, rather than relying on lofty rhetoric, he would talk about concrete issues that are important to voters.

In keeping with that theme, Obama's crowds are getting smaller by design. Just 250 people were invited to a town-hall-style meeting at a fairground in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday. Members of Obama's field staff reached out to Republicans and undecided voters on their lists in order to draw a meaningful cross section, rather than the cheerleading swarm that will greet the nominee when he gets to Denver.

Obama is also on a regular-guy roll. He mused at length about what it is like to travel by plane commercially these days -- going through security, suffering delays, circling overhead in a holding pattern -- and advocated a light-rail line between Chicago and St. Louis in a response to a question about the country's infrastructure. He talked about the debt that he and his wife, Michelle, went into to pay for school. And he continued his populist tone, one that sounded remarkably like the one Hillary Clinton adopted at the end of her bid.

"I won't be a perfect president, but I can promise you this: . . . You will have someone fighting for you in the White House the day I set foot in it," he said.

-- Anne E. Kornblut

'A VERY FINE STATESMAN'

Secretary of State Has Kind Words for Biden

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday praised Joe Biden as a "true patriot" and a "very fine statesman." Speaking to reporters on her plane as she flew to Israel for peace talks, Rice said she was not trying to wade into presidential politics. But she has worked closely with Biden in his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and she offered this reaction to the selection of the senator from Delaware as Barack Obama's running mate: "Senator Biden is obviously a very fine statesman. I've known him for a long time," Rice said, according to a transcript of her remarks released by the State Department. "He's a true, true patriot."

Another bit of Republican praise for Biden came from Crawford, Tex., where President Bush is nearing the end of a two-week vacation at the family ranch.