US Features
Long-shot Iowa governor announces presidential bid
By Anne K Walters
Dec 1, 2006, 19:00 GMT

Washington - The relatively unknown governor of the Midwestern state of Iowa Thursday became the first Democratic contender to formally say he would vie for the US presidency in 2008.

Though analysts say Tom Vilsack starts out against long odds, he could take a page from the career of Bill Clinton, whose office as governor of a small, nationally insignificant state - Arkansas - was a springboard to the White House.

Vilsack shares other traits with Clinton - both served as leader of the party's centrist Democratic Leadership Council and both overcame challenging childhoods.

To secure the centre-left Democratic nomination, Vilsack will have to overcome a host of potential heavyweight hopefuls, including one who shared the White House with Bill Clinton.

Former first lady Hillary Clinton, now a senator from New York, is the favourite in opinion surveys of Democratic voters' presidential preferences.

Vilsack 'is clearly a long shot,' Peverill Squire, a professor of political science at the University of Iowa, told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa in a telephone interview. But the Iowa governor 'has come from nowhere to win before.'

Despite some outward similarities, Vilsack has a very different presentation and style than Bill Clinton, Squire said.

'Our country today needs a president who will lead bold change and has the courage of his convictions, and I intend to be that president,' Vilsack said at a press conference announcing his bid in the small town of Mount Pleasant, Iowa.

'So, today, in front of the family and friends I love so much, in a community that I'm proud to call home, I announce my candidacy to be the next president of the United States.'

In addition to Senator Clinton, Vilsack's potential rivals for the Democratic nomination could include Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who was the party's last presidential nominee in 2004, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama.

Recent polls show Vilsack in last place with voters among a list of potential Democratic candidates, with just 1 per cent saying he would be their choice for the party's nominee.

Vilsack is optimistic but acknowledged the scepticism about his chances.

'I've always been an underdog and a long shot,' he said.

His compelling personal story - Vilsack was orphaned as an infant and adopted into a family where he was raised by an alcoholic mother - his centrist policies and his prominence in a state that is the gateway to the presidential nomination process could create an opening for his campaign.

By tradition, Iowa is the first of the 50 states to hold the presidential nominating process among party faithful, and Iowa Democrats will voice their preferences in January 2008 caucuses. In hopes of gaining momentum toward the nomination, presidential hopefuls typically spend months or even years wooing voters in Iowa and a handful of other states that hold the earliest primary elections.

An early opinion poll of Democrats in Iowa ranked Vilsack fourth among potential presidential candidates, and state residents will not lend him their support simply because he served eight years as governor, Squire said.

'It's sometimes hard for Iowans to think of one of their own as a presidential candidate,' Squire said.

Vilsack will leave office in January after two terms as governor. He touts his achievements in pushing renewable energy and boosting education achievement and medical insurance coverage while governor.

He served as an Iowa state senator and mayor of Mount Pleasant before being elected governor in 1998.

The 2008 presidential elections will be the first since 1952 without a sitting president or vice president heading one of the major-party tickets, throwing the contest wide open to what will likely be a crowded field.

Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani have formed exploratory committees for their widely expected runs for the nomination of the centre-right Republican Party.

Name recognition is key in raising campaign donations, especially early in the process. Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton is by far the most widely recognized face among possible candidates and leads polls with about one-third of voters saying they would back her candidacy.