Prometheus 6

Obama says Iowa voters are beyond race
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 9, 6:12 PM ET

Barack Obama says voters in Iowa, though relatively few are black like him, care little about that and much more about whether he'd be a president who would make their lives better.

"I am getting a fair hearing and I will get a fair hearing and I think we're going to win this place," Obama said Friday, campaigning for the Iowa caucuses that are now just eight weeks away.

"People are less concerned about race and much more concerned about, is this somebody who is going to be fighting for me," he said.

Obama is among the top tier of Democrats in polls in Iowa, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, and electability in the 2008 election against the Republican nominee is a top issue among Democratic activists.

The Illinois senator says he's encountered concerns before about whether voters are ready to support a black candidate.