Field of dreams

Obama goes to Iowa.

Standing on an outdoor stage decorated with pumpkins and bales of hay, Obama mocked the Bush administration's policies without ever resorting to the shrill invective that has become a staple of partisan rhetoric. "I've had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue," Obama declared forcefully, before shifting to a lighter tone. "I don't know about you, but the war against terrorism isn't supposed to crop up just between September and November in even-numbered years. That seems to be the pattern. There is a sudden burst of activity, a sudden urgency, three months before an election."

For the most part, there was little new in Obama's speech, since the nearly 40-minute address, which he delivered without referring to notes, was mostly an artful pastiche of earlier rhetoric. Some of the anecdotes were powerful, such as Obama's encounter with a 105-year-old black woman at a campaign rally during his 2004 Senate race. What was striking through much of the speech was not what the fledgling senator said but the fierce attention that Obama inspired from the audience. The faces in the crowd radiated a rapt intensity that you see in patriotic movies from the 1930s and 1940s but rarely in real life. If there is ever an eye-contact primary, put your money on Obama.

What's he got to lose if he runs?