In Iowa, Democratic hopefuls turn up the heat on Clinton

Sharing the stage before thousands of cheering Democrats, a parade of White House hopefuls pressed their attack Saturday night on front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, casting the party’s nomination fight as a choice between change and the status quo.

“This is not just politics,” said former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. “This is the great moral test of our generation.”

Like Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois never uttered Clinton’s name, but there was little doubt about his intended target. “When I’m your nominee, my opponent won’t be able to say that I supported this war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I support the Bush-Cheney diplomacy of not talking to leaders we don’t like,” Obama said.

Clinton, a senator from New York, countered with a familiar argument.

“We are ready for change. But you know what? ‘Change’ is just a word if you don’t have the strength and experience to make it happen,” she said. “We must nominate a nominee who’s been tested, and elect a president who is ready to lead on Day One.”

She also said she was ready for any heat her opponents might bring to bear.

“I feel really comfortable in the kitchen,” she said, later adding: “I’m not interested in attacking my opponents. I’m interested in attacking the problems of America, and I believe we should be turning the heat on the Republicans. They deserve all the heat we can give them.”

The setting was the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner at an auditorium in downtown Des Moines. The event, which drew a record crowd of more than 9,000, is the biggest Democratic event of the lengthy campaign season and, traditionally, starts the final sprint to Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses -- now less than 60 days away.

At times, the dinner seemed a rerun of a recent Democratic debate, with candidates striking similar themes.

Edwards reiterated his assertion that Clinton was too beholden to special interests to bring about big change. Specifically, he cited healthcare and, indirectly, Clinton’s failed effort, as first lady, to overhaul the system in the 1990s.

“We have a responsibility to change this system,” he said. “I don’t believe you can bring about this change by taking money from these people.”

As he did during last month’s debate, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson emphasized the need for his party’s candidates to stay positive. “It is critically important that Democrats don’t tear each other down,” Richardson said to loud applause from Clinton supporters. “The voters of Iowa want a positive campaign. . . . They want an America that’s optimistic.”

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware said that “the world is waiting for an American president they can trust,” but he reserved his scorn for the Republican candidates, notably former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, with whom he has sparred in the past.

At the dinner, Clinton supporters wore yellow and green T-shirts with a new slogan for the occasion: “Turn up the heat” -- a reference to a recent Clinton remark following attacks by other candidates.

Obama activists wore red T-shirts reading, “I’m fired up.”

But some Democratic activists said they feared sparks from the campaigns would ignite the Republicans in the general election. The increasingly strident tone of the campaigns has caused concerns among Democrats that negative attacks could be exploited by the Republicans during the general election.

“I’m bothered by the negativity creeping in,” said Carole Fishback, an Obama supporter who brought her daughter to Saturday’s event. “Corrupt is a Republican word-grab,” she said, referring to recent statements by Edwards describing Clinton as part of a corrupt system.

Though Clinton leads the race among the Democrats in national polls, Iowa remains a tight three-way competition among Clinton, Obama and Edwards.

“Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment was ‘Thou shall never speak ill of a fellow Republican,’ ” said Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who supports Biden. “I hope Democrats take Ronald Reagan’s lead. You’re only helping the opponent.”

Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry’s speech at the dinner four years ago later came to be seen as a turning point in his campaign. “We need to offer answers, not just anger,” Kerry told the partisans then. “Don’t just send them a message next January; send them a president.”

On Saturday, Democratic activists flooded downtown Des Moines with banners and signs.

Inside the auditorium, supporters cheered each time their candidate’s image was shown on the Jumbotron. On the floor, older activists enjoyed dinner; in the nosebleed section, loyalists had brought their own sodas and snacks.

louise.roug@latimes.com

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Times staff writers Seema Mehta in Des Moines and Mark Z. Barabak in San Francisco contributed to this report.