Obama in Iowa, where it all began

by John McCormick

DES MOINES - Returning to the place that set him on a potential path to the presidency some 10 months ago, Sen. Barack Obama thanked Iowans for their support today and asked them to help him cross the finish line successfully next week.

"On the day of the Iowa caucuses, my faith in the American people was vindicated and what you started here in Iowa has swept the nation," Obama told a crowd his campaign said totaled about 25,000 in a downtown park under a warm fall sun.

"We're seeing the same turnout. We're seeing the same people going, getting in line. Volunteers. People participating," he said. "A whole new way of doing Democracy started right here in Iowa and it's all across the country now."

The Illinois Democrat appeared more spirited than he has in recent days and more frequently adlibbed away from text on the teleprompter that he has typically closely stuck to in recent weeks.

His voice frequently rose and echoed against the capital city's downtown buildings. Drawing loud cheers, Obama sought to mobilize volunteers and voters for the final push until Tuesday.

"We've got to go ahead and bring it home. We've got to go ahead and win this election," he said. "We're going to do it right here in Iowa, here in Des Moines."

Obama said Sen. John McCain's campaign has called him many things.

"He has spent the last few weeks of the campaign calling me every name of the book. Every name," he said. "Everything but a child of God."

Obama charged that McCain has run a dirty campaign, counter to his previous brand.

"A couple of elections ago, there was a presidential candidate who decried this kind of politics and condemned these kinds of tactics. And I admired him for it. He said, 'I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land.' Those words were spoken eight years ago by my opponent, John McCain," he said. "But the high road didn't lead him to the White House then, so this time, he decided to take a different route."

McCain's campaign responded with a statement that seemed to imply Obama is acting in an over-confident way.

"Hardworking families need a president whose faith in the American people is not predicated on his own election," spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "At a time of mounting economic and foreign policy challenges, this country needs a president like John McCain who is experienced and tested."

Obama also criticized a new McCain ad that shows the Democratic nominee in the past praising McCain and Sen. Joseph Lieberman for their work on global warming.

"As if there's something wrong with acknowledging when an opponent has said or done something that makes sense," Obama said. "I do that all the time....I think we need more of that attitude in Washington. We need more civility in Washington. I don't disagree with Senator McCain on everything. I respect his occasional displays of independence."

But Obama said he has little respect for McCain when it comes to dealing with the economy.

"The plain truth is that John McCain has stood with President Bush every step of the way," he said. "I mean, he hasn't been a maverick. He's been a sidekick."

As he closed, Obama made one last pitch for help in the coming days.

"If you will volunteer and do what needs to be done, then everything that we've been working for two years now, will come to an end and we will have not only won Iowa, we will win this general election," he said.