There is much to be learned from the Iowa experience for Obama when it comes to narrowing that margin. He can start by talking with more community newspapers in certain states.While the “media” ranks with lawyers and telemarketers on so many America’s Most-Hated Lists, weekly papers and small dailies — the ones that still run so-called “chicken dinner” stories and engage in unabashed boosterism for the local hospital or high school sports teams — often retain great standing in rural areas.

The reporters and editors Obama talks to at these newspapers are the same ones who field calls from loved ones after the untimely death of a teen or for the reporting of a quick announcement on an 80th birthday or a new business opening or for help about fixing up the local cemetery or even getting someone to clean up the junk from an unsightly yard (all things I talked about with people in just the last week in Carroll, Iowa, where my family runs a small daily newspaper). In short we are old friends on the town square. Readers know us personally. We are in the next pew at church or just a few stools down in the tavern. People trust us more than the bigger papers.

“There’s actually some research to prove that,” Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, tells Iowa Independent. The institute publishes the Rural Report.

Our newspaper has a decidedly different role in life in Carroll than The New York Times does with its readers. Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times (who used to write for The Des Moines Register) understands this.

“There is, perhaps, no better way to give an hour-long presidential visit far greater staying power than appearing on the pages of the weekly newspaper,” Zeleny wrote before the Iowa caucuses.

The Washington Post’s Peter Slevin — who spent several days in Carroll — wrote a piece on caucus night chronicling the Obama communications team’s effort to cultivate working relationships with rural journalists months before the Illinois senator’s 8-percentage-point win here.

Faced with a well-documented challenge to court rural voters, does it make sense for Obama to use a strategy of reaching out to smaller papers as a way to get more punch for his time in rural areas?

“I think it would be useful around the margins,” Cross said.

Cross said Obama doesn’t have the luxury of being able to zero in on just one state, as he did with Iowa, where he used many angles to get that win, including a strategy to grant access to the more influential small dailies and weeklies.

“The thing that is most valuable to him right now is time,” said Cross, a former 16-year political writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal.

That said, using some variation of his rural newspaper outreach strategy may pay off for Obama in some Southwest states like New Mexico or in New Hampshire, Cross said.

“It would depend on the degree of penetration,” Cross said.

In the latest issue of Newsweek, dated today in fact, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, an African-American who nearly won a seat in the U.S. Senate (and likely would have were it not for an 11th-hour, racist smear television ad), advises Obama that the white voters of much of the nation’s rural areas just need to get to beyond the celebrity.

Here is Ford:

Obama has run a first-rate primary campaign, energizing countless new voters. Now he’s got to get off the big stage more often and meet with people where they work, play and pray. That means getting out to schools and factories, coffee shops, fairgrounds and houses of worship. He needs to earn their trust.

Bill Bishop, an editor with The Center For Rural Strategies Daily Yonder Web site, writes that the rural, white, working-class gap Obama must overcome is less about the color of Obama’s face than it is about the face time on his schedule in wide open spaces.

If he takes Ford’s advice, Obama would be well advised to roll out the Iowa media plan and schedule stops at community newspapers. Sitting down for interviews with those editors and reporters will do more than just provide him with the ink in publications that are about far more than just news (people really do rely on us for grocery ads and keep the paper around for a while as a result).

Residents of small towns, who interact with the editors of papers like my family’s at church and in the Rotary Club or at a pancake fund-raiser for a sick child, pull us aside with some frequency and ask what the candidates were like up close and personal. Are they something more than talk-radioed and MSNBC-ed caricatures? They hear Chris Matthews. But they believe us.

Romney stressed his business credentials, tough stances on illegal immigration and took issue with Huckabee for attacking Romney’s faith. The former Massachusetts governor also had some interesting observations on Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s admissions of past illegal drug use.

Iowa Independent: One of your GOP opponents, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, has made the comment on Social Security that he has a plan for a one-time payout, presumably for older people with certain wealth levels, and I’ve never been able to get anyone on his campaign to explain what that scheme is. What do you think about that idea and the fact that he does appear to have any follow-up explanation?

Romney: You know, I haven’t seen his proposal with regard to Social Security. I don’t know what he’s referring to. Clearly. People who receive Social Security should continue to receive Social Security.We shouldn’t change the deal on people who count on Social Security. We are going to reform programs for younger people coming along to make sure promises we make to folks that are 20 and 30 and 40 years old we can honor. But we’re not going to change the deal for people who are retired or near retirement. That would be inappropriate and we’re just not going to go in that direction.

Iowa Independent: Huckabee said the following, “Don’t Mormons believe Jesus and the Devil are brothers?” First of all, governor, is that true? And what do you think of that kind of rhetoric?

Romney: Well as the Church indicated in its statement that is an old smear and it is not accurate.And that’s unfortunate to be brought into the political sphere. Huckabee has apologized for attacks on my religion and I accepted his apology.Look, religious attacks have no place in the American political process. Of course if people want to talk about our differences on issues and track record that’s part of the political process. We have some important issues that we face. But bringing up people’s religious beliefs is just not the American way.

Iowa Independent: Some of your most sustained applause here in Carroll was on the issue of immigration. The 14th Amendment defines children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil as legal U.S. citizens. This rankles many people. Is there a legislative fix to this and do you plan to seek one?

Romney: There is. The current practice is that if the child is born here to illegal parents the child becomes a U.S. citizen and then what occurs is something known as chain migration where the relatives of that child are now able to come into the country. We can stop chain migration. It does not require a change to the Constitution to say we are not going to have a policy of bringing in family members of a child that was born here to illegal parents.

Iowa Independent: You were critical of Senator Barack Obama for talking openly about drug use. He wrote about it in his book. He’s admitted to marijuana use but he’s also admitted to cocaine use in his past. Do you think there is a difference in the admission of marijuana and cocaine? Is there a gradation?

Romney: I think we’re probably best if we’re running for president of the United States to honestly indicate to people we’ve made mistakes in our lives and there are things we wish we wouldn’t have done.But I think we mistakenly describe the details of our failings, recognizing that we may open the door to a young person’s mind to think it’s OK for them to do those same things.I think Barack Obama was wrong in describing his illegal drug use because of the effect it has on the minds of young people. Of course, we all make mistakes. No one’s perfect.But President Bush I think had the right approach. He said, look when I was young and irresponsible I was young and irresponsible. He acknowledged those things that were subsequently dug up and confronted him and he said, yes, that’s accurate. But he did not want to in any way contribute to a decline of the resolve young people have to follow the law.

Carroll Daily Times Herald: Since this is an edit board meeting, what’s your pitch for our potential endorsement and for the support of our readers on caucus night.

Romney: My life has been spent in the private sector where talk is cheap. You have to be able to deliver or you’ll get fired. I’ve learned how to get the job done. I’ve done that in the private sector. I did that at the Olympics. I did that as governor of Massachusetts. I will get the job done and America needs someone who can finally get us on track, stop the overspending, stop the over use of oil, stop illegal immigration, get us more competitive with China and fix the currency problem we have with China, get us in a posture where we can help the Muslims reject the violent extreme so we don’t have to do it for them.

Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger noted last week that it appears James Dobson is taking a process-of-elimination approach to selecting which Republican presidential candidate will get his official personal, not-sanctioned-by-his-nonprofit-organization blessing.

In March, Dobson, who can rally – or not – potentially hundreds of thousands of conservative voters, told US News & World Report that he didn't think Fred Thompson was a Christian. After the story appeared, a peeved Dobson backed away from his Thompson critique and said he'd been maligned by the secular media – though it was unclear exactly what had been incorrectly reported. But this week – a week after Thompson said he isn't a regular churchgoer and wouldn't stump for Christ on the campaign trail – Dobson appears to have made it official: Thompson is not presidential material, at least in his mind.

In an e-mail that Dobson sent to undisclosed recipients, which was obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed as legitimate, Dobson ripped Thompson as being weak and "wrong on issues dear to social conservatives." Specifically, he criticized Thompson's opposition to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and his support of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation.

He has no passion, no zeal and no apparent `want to,'" Dobson wrote. "And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"

Dobson has already said no way to Rudy Giuliani ("an unapologetic supporter of abortion on demand") and to John McCain, who has said he doesn't have a problem with gay marriage ("under no circumstances," Dobson fumed back in January).

For those who are keeping track, there are still plenty of available contenders for Dobson to pick from – including religious conservatives Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Alan Keyes. Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Mitt Romney are also in the race.

But, if on-air love is any indication, it would appear that Dobson's top choice isn't even in the race – at least not yet. Back in March, Dobson invited Newt Gingrich on his radio show, ostensibly to talk about "the growing threat of radical Islam." During the show the thrice-married Gingrich admitted he had been having an affair at the same time he was working to get Clinton impeached for his affair.

Dobson's Colorado Springs-based Christian media empire subsequently soft-padded what it termed as Gingrich's "moral failings," pointing out that, after all, Gingrich claims to have "gotten on my knees and sought God's forgiveness." He has also since repeatedly hinted he may enter the presidential race this fall.

This post comes to Iowa Independent by way of our sister site, Colorado Confidential, where Cara DeGette writes as a senior fellow.  She is also a columnist and contributing editor at the Colorado Springs Independent. E-mail her at cdegette@coloradoconfidential.com.

The Obama crew marches to the Harkin Steak Fry, led by the drum corps the Isiserettes.

Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge welcomes the crowd early in the program at the steak fry.

The catering crew worked over hot grills preparing the meals for over 12,000.

Iowa vocal talent Effie Burt passionately sings the Star Spangled Banner.

Ruth and Tom Harkin say hello to the record crowd at the Harkin Steak Fry.

Barack Obama takes to the mic to deliver the first speech of the six special guests.

Hillary Clinton and Ruth Harkin have a chat up on the stage.

Bill Richardson gives the second presidential candidate speech at the steak fry.