Midwesterner Gephardt milks roots, familiarity

DENISON, Iowa -- Elizabeth Lownes lingered in Cronk's Cafe long after the stump speech ended. Aides were gently urging presidential candidate Richard A. Gephardt to wrap up his handshakes so the campaign caravan could motor to the next stop, but when Lownes finally got close to Gephardt, she would not let his hand go until she could deliver an important message to the congressman from Missouri.

"I like your values, because they seem to be the same as Iowans' values," Lownes, a retired elementary school teacher, told Gephardt after a campaign event last week in Denison, a small town in the western part of the state. "Hang in there."

It is the type of connection Gephardt has to make many more times before next Monday night's Iowa caucuses, which amount to a must-win for him. Unlike the other strong contenders in Iowa -- a few New Englanders and a Southerner -- Gephardt can call himself a fellow Midwesterner in Iowa, and he is centering his Iowa campaign on that fact in the closing days.

He seasons his speeches with carefully crafted personal anecdotes, talking about his upbringing in a poor household where his father, a milk truck driver, struggled to make mortgage payments on a $4,000 house. Whether he is at raucous urban rallies or cozy meetings in rural senior centers, his crisp, measured addresses focus on agricultural, environmental, and trade policy, while not even mentioning the war in Iraq.

He constantly touts his theory that the only way to beat President Bush is for the Democratic candidate to sweep the Midwest. He talks like the Iowans he is addressing: "textull" for "textile," "turban" for "turbine," "Dub-uh-yuh" for George W. Bush. He jokes that his wife will be cooking meals in the White House, and tells Iowans that if they support him, he will set up bunk beds in the Lincoln Bedroom so they can spend the night.

In his bid to emerge as the anti-Howard Dean, Gephardt is highlighting his differences with the former Vermont governor through his folksy, homespun campaign style.

"I do think coming from the Midwest, having the same kind of background that most of these people have had, sharing their values, I think it's an important thing," Gephardt told reporters after a campaign stop Saturday in Waterloo. "I really think I'm going to win here."

It works with many in Iowa, who cite his residency in neighboring Missouri and his long support of farm- and labor-friendly policies as the main reasons for backing him. But with familiarity can come fatigue: Gephardt has been a known quantity in Iowa since the 1988 caucus, which he won, and some caucus-goers say they are frustrated to see him back on the campaign trail with the Democrats' national clout diminished.

"He's been in leadership for 13 years, and the Democrats lost seats in that time," said Garrett Jensen, 21, a junior at the University of Iowa who attended a Gephardt rally in Independence. "I don't know if he's capable of getting it done."

Many in Iowa who support Dean, Senators John F. Kerry and John Edwards, or Representative Dennis J. Kucinich -- all candidates making their first run for the presidency -- say Gephardt is their second choice.

"It's going to take somebody who can bring along other people with him," said Larry Johnson, 67, a retired banker who lives in Charles City, in northern Iowa, and is leaning toward Dean. "I like Dick Gephardt. I think he's a good guy, but he's been around a long time."

Gephardt is not pretending to be a fresh face. As Dean slams Washington Democrats, Gephardt is proudly talking about his long record in Congress.

He takes credit for leading the fight against the North American Free Trade Agreement and the trade normalization accord with China. He proudly describes himself as "Bill Clinton's right-hand person in the Congress" and reminds crowds of battles royal he's had with Republicans over Social Security and Medicare. He slams Bush in a way that makes clear his length of service in Washington: "Boy, I've served with five presidents. He's by far the worst."

The wave of interest in Dean's candidacy -- and his strong showing in polls in Iowa -- has stoked concern among many Gephardt supporters. An older gentleman stood up at a Gephardt campaign appearance in Waverly over the weekend, clutching a fistful of Dean mailings he had gotten. He wanted to know what he could tell the next Dean supporters who called him to argue that Gephardt represents the party's past, not its future.

Yet Gephardt is holding strong in Iowa. He has earned the loyalty of many in this state, from the labor loyalists to the corn and soybean farmers who own the vast tracts that sprawl between the urban areas.

"It's the Midwest attitude," said R. C. Eichacker, 70, an Amana resident with an Abe Lincoln beard who came to a recent event with a red plaid shirt and red suspenders. He gave the candidate a wooden back massager he had made, with the inscription: "Dick, you have our backing."

"Nothing against the other candidates," Eichacker added, "but he came from Missouri, and we take care of our neighbors -- except for when we're playing the University of Missouri."

Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.