Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign raised some eyebrows when it was revealed that it would hold a “Rural Americans for Hillary” summit at the Washington, DC, office of Troutman Sanders Public Affairs, a lobbying firm that represents controversial agribusiness giant Monsanto.  Clinton herself made a swing through Iowa over the weekend, stumping in Des Moines, Carroll, and Storm Lake.  Saturday, a direct mail piece defending Clinton’s vote in favor of the Senate resolution classifying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group hit Iowa mailboxes.

Sen. Barack Obama released his plan for rural America in the town of Fairfax Tuesday, making stops later that day in Vinton, Amana, and Tipton.  He announced the endorsement of State Rep. Mark Smith Wednesday.

Sen. Joe Biden kept his sights on Gov. Bill Richardson in campaign stops across the state.  He also received the first newspaper endorsement of the presidential campaign from the Storm Lake Times, a relatively small newspaper in Northwest Iowa.  Richardson gave an address on global threats in Des Moines Thursday, and he appears to be getting serious.  Sen. Chris Dodd has moved his family to Iowa, according to media reports.  Among other relatives campaigning for Dodd, the Connecticut Senator’s brother Tom (who is a former Ambassador and adjunct professor at Georgetown) performed duties as a surrogate last week.

For what they are worth, the two latest polls of the Democratic candidates in Iowa show Clinton in the lead.  Strategic Vision puts the New York Senator at 28%, Obama at 23%, and Edwards at 20%.  Rasmussen’s results differ slightly: Clinton is at 33%, Edwards is at 22%, and Obama is at 21%.  Notably, Biden is within the margin of error of Richardson in both polls (although both candidates remain in the single digits).  According to Rasmussen, Clinton attracts has a commanding lead among female voters, attracting 39% of their vote.

On the Republican side, former mayor Rudy Giuliani made a trip through Iowa last week emphasizing his fiscal conservatism after receiving the support of Texas Gov. Rick Perry.  His trip included a stop in arguably the most liberal county in the state.

Gov. Mitt Romney stumped in Eastern and Western Iowa on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.

And Sen. Sam Brownback dropped out of the race Friday.  Although he was registering very low in polls, he had endeared himself to many social conservatives in Iowa.  While many blamed his failure on poor fund raising, there are indications that the root causes were more strategic than financial.

The most recent polls of the Republican field in Iowa show Romney maintaining his first place standing.  Strategic Vision puts Romney at 27%, Giuliani at 13%, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 12%, former Sen. Fred Thompson at 10%, and Sen. John McCain at 5%.  (Brownback and Rep. Ron Paul both had 4%.)  Rasmussen registers Huckabee ant Thompson well above Giuliani, with Romney at 25%, Thompson at 19%, Huckabee at 18%, and Giuliani at 13%.  (McCain has 6%, and Brownback had 3%.)

Although the date of the Democratic caucuses remains uncertain, Monday, the Iowa GOP set the date of its caucuses for January 3.

“The era of cowboy diplomacy is over,” Clinton said. “We’re going to start finding common ground again.”

Added Clinton, “The president’s policies have alienated our allies and emboldened our enemies.”

Clinton used the majority of her hour at Northwest Park to work the rope lines, posing for photographs and chatting about various memorabilia attendees had in hand. She then spent about 45 minutes at Sam’s Soda’s & Sandwiches in the downtown of this west-central Iowa commercial hub, something of a political command performance for presidential candidates since 2000, meeting with the Carroll Daily Times Herald, Iowa Independent.com, Carroll Broadcasting, the Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa and The Denison Bulletin.

A widely circulated piece by Iowa Independent managing editor Chase Martyn reports that many of Clinton’s recent Iowa events have been largely choreographed with few opportunites for audience questions. She fielded one question before the full Carroll audience Saturday, a query most could not hear related to foster care from a young woman who apparently had been in that system in Iowa herself. Clinton complimented the woman for her “courage” in talking about the issue in a public forum and the former First Lady then said she would take more questions one-on-one as she moved through the crowd.

A Clinton strategist in Iowa, JoDee Winterhof, told Iowa Independent the decision to take only one public question was based on time, and that Clinton had in fact answered several at a Des Moines event earlier in the day.

Dr. Andy McGuire, a former Democratic candidate for lieutanent governor who is Clinton’s Iowa campaign co-chairwoman, said the more personal rope-line exchanges work well for Clinton.

“It think it’s doing fine,” McGuire said.

After the Carroll stop Clinton headed to Storm Lake, where a weekly newspaper, The Times, Saturday endorsed one of her competitors, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

In Carroll Clinton started her remarks in the middle of Northwest Park on the war in Iraq.

The senator said U.S troops have done as much as possible there.

“There is no military solution,” she said.

Clinton said U.S troops are “acting like referees for the Iraqi civil war.”

The U.S. senator from New York and the former First Lady, opposes permanent bases in Iraq and has said the United States may need a reduced residual force to train Iraqi troops, provide logistical support, and conduct counterterrorism operations.

Clinton then moved to domestic affairs, saying her own college years were financed with low-interest federal loans.

“I didn’t have to worry about getting ripped off by some student loan company,’ Clinton said.

Clinton noted the average student loan debt for an Iowan is $23,000.

She is supporting more funding for Pell Grants and college tax credits.

And Clinton posed this question: “I want to start finding out why college costs so much.”

In fact, she suggested there could be a way to prohibit colleges from hiking tuition or other costs in the middle of a student’s four-year program.

“Education is part of having that strong middle class,” Clinton said.

Touching quickly on the agriculture front, Clinton said the U.S. needs to develop more markets for American products – and that many of those may be domestic.

“I am tired of not knowing what is in the food we import from other countries,” Clinton said.

Clinton said one of the more common concerns she hears while campaigning relates to health-care.

“We’re going to open up the Congressional plan,” Clinton said. “We’re going to open it up to everybody.”

Overall, from health-care to the management of the war in Iraq to government spending, Clinton said, the Bush administration is working for the middle class.

“They have taken President Lincoln’s famous phrase and turned it on its head,” Clinton said. “The Bush-Cheney Administration is the government of the few, by the few and for the few.”

Some of the more sustained applause for Clinton came when she referenced the obvious, that she would be the first female president.

“I’m not running because I’m a woman,” Clinton said. “I’m running because I think I’m the best qualified and experienced person to hit the ground running.”

One of her more prominent Hawkeye State supporters, former Iowa Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack touched on that with the Carroll crowd, saying that her candidacy is an inspiration to girls.

Sue Scharfenkamp, a registered Republican and a Carroll stay-at-home mother and foster parent, who said she is “kind of an independent,” thinks the Democratic field is stronger in this presidential cycle.

“I’m always impressed with Hillary and I think what I like about Hillary is she has such experience with the White House and I think if she would become president it is just so easy for her to go in,” Scharfenkamp said. “She knows what to expect.”

Instead of the polarizing tag often affixed to Hillary Clinton, Scharfenkamp sees her as something of a steadying influence.

“Hillary, when she speaks, she always makes me feel really comfortable,” Scharfenkamp, the wife of Carroll At-Large Councilman Jeff Scharfenkamp, said. “I think she’s interested in what everybody is kind of interested in from environment to health care.”

While undecided – and interested in hearing presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor – Scharfenkamp said she’s leaning toward Clinton.

One registered Democrat, Marilyn Spindler, a senior citizen from Carroll, says she’s undecided as well.

But she sees Clinton as being more warm than the ugly caricatures opponents peddle.

“I think she’s not only a nice person, she’s a good person,” Spindler said as she showed a reporter a copy of a Reader’s Digest article on Clinton that she had only moments earlier chatted about with the senator.