Clinton Arrives in Iowa

All candidates for president must make obligatory stops when they first come to Iowa, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, despite her celebrity standing, is no exception. She arrived in Des Moines late afternoon on Friday and one of her first stops was a courtesy call on Democratic Gov. Chet Culver, who was sworn into office just two weeks ago.

Culver, whose father John Culver, served in the Senate in the 1970s, led the Democratic sweep in Iowa last fall that installed a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate for the first time in 42 years. Iowa went for President Bush in 2004, but the 2006 elections turned the Hawkeye state decidedly blue.

Culver said he is neutral in the presidential primary race and likely will not endorse any candidate before next year's first-in-the-nation caucuses, even though his predecessor, Tom Vilsack, is now seeking the Democratic nomination.

"I want the people to decide who the best candidate is for the party and the country," he said in an interview just before meeting with Clinton. "We've also learned that endorsements frankly don't always amount to a whole lot."

That was the case in 2004, when Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt gathered up most of the key endorsements and ended up finishing third and fourth to John F. Kerry and John Edwards. More important than endorsements, he said, is spending time in the state.

"It does matter that the candidate come and spend quality team here," he said. "Otherwise, it's very difficult, and Iowans expect to have the chance to meet these candidates and get to know them on a very personal level."

Culver described the competition in Iowa as wide open. "This is anyone's race to win, including obviously Gov. Vilsack, who is very familiar with the landscape here," he said. "That's the wonderful thing about the caucus process. The winner will have to earn it. And that means going over to a high school gym on a Saturday morning like Senator Clinton and speaking directly to hundreds of likely caucus-goers who are going to ask really tough, pertinent questions about the future of this country."

Asked why Clinton leads in national polls by a comfortable margin but is running about even with a cluster of candidates in Iowa that includes Vilsack, Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama, he said: "Well this is her first trip. People certainly respect her and perhaps admire her and respect her, but now is a different type of test that every candidate is expected to go through."

Asked what Clinton and other candidates will hear about the Iraq war from Iowa activists, Culver opened up. "You know we've now lost 50 heroes," he said. "We've now lost 50 Iowans in Iraq and Afghanistan. Every day I think it's becoming more of an issue."

Culver said the debate over Bush's plan to send more troops into battle in Iraq was a healthy sign and predicted that the war could overwhelm other issues in the 2008 campaign.

"We now know that nearly 70 percent of Americans do not agree with the president's policy," he said. "That suggests there's a different path, and it's possible that the next president of the United States is the person that can figure out the best solution in Iraq. . . . I'm hearing more and more about it every day in Iowa, and I think Iowans are perhaps going to use the presidential selection process as a platform to talk about it."

Culver laughed when asked whether the Iowa caucuses, now scheduled for Jan. 14, 2008, might end up being held in December of this year if New Hampshire decides to move up the date of its first-in-the-nation primary, as New Hampshire officials are threatening to do.

"I think it's important for Iowa and New Hampshire to stick together and work together and I hope that is ultimately the case," he said.

Asked whether he was committed to keeping the caucuses eight days ahead of New Hampshire's primary, which has been the custom in recent elections, he smiled and said, "We'll follow the Iowa state law and we'll also work with the Democratic National Committee to honor the rules."

Culver agreed those may be incompatible goals. "I am an optimist," he said.