In 2004, Richard Gephardt went negative on front runner Howard Dean, and Dean counter attacked. Voters in Iowa were turned off. Two candidates with positive messages, John Kerry and John Edwards, came from behind to win. Six weeks before the election Kerry was polling in the mid teens and Edwards was still in the single digits.

Could we be soon witnessing a repeat of 2004? Clinton, Obama and Edwards are locked in a tie for first place, and the race is starting to heat up. As reported by Iowa political commentator David Yepsen:

The 2008 Edwards doesn't sound much like the 2004 Edwards Iowa Democrats came to admire. Now, he sounds increasingly sharp-edged in campaign stump speeches that often border on class-warfare politics. He's started flaying away at the Clinton years in the White House. He and Obama talk about Clinton's support from lobbyists. Clinton has started pushing back about Obama's lack of experience, recently pointing out that living for a few years in a foreign country as a child hardly makes you a foreign-policy expert.

Back and forth it goes. At one level, it's a good thing. Democratic caucus-goers are entitled to vet candidates and see them probe one another's weaknesses before the GOP does it in the November campaign. But Democrats have to be careful about this stuff. Edwards' negativity mars the sunny, moderate image that served him well in 2004. Obama's attacks distract from the politics of hope he likes to preach. Clinton's attacks just undercut her efforts to change her image as a cold-hearted candidate.

Richardson holds a firm grip on fourth place in the race. He's done that with a combination of hard work - he's been in 98 counties - a positive message and some genuinely humorous television advertising earlier in the campaign. "I sense a lot of grass-roots momentum, especially in rural areas," Richardson said in an interview. He packed more than 200 people into the meeting room at the Saylor Township fire department on Saturday afternoon last week. They were mostly older and blue-collar union Democrats, the kind of folks who show up at caucuses. "We're getting huge crowds," he said. "I sense this race is not over. Polls show 50 percent undecided. There's a lot of fluidity. Iowans are known for making up their minds at the last minute."

New Mexico Bill Richardson has barnstormed 95 of Iowa's 99 counties, wooing rural Democrats with his pro-gun record and urban caucus goers with his aggressive Iraq withdrawal plan. He has fielded questions on every imaginable subject, from term limits to the space station. The Richardson style is frank but casual. He leans forward in his cowboy boots, fists jammed in his suit pocket.

. . .His niche is the positive moderate, similar to Edwards circa 2004. Indeed, Richardson is trying to eat into Edwards' support among working class, small town caucus goers. "I think Edwards tends to attract the same people I need to attract," Richardson said. His events also draw large numbers of older women - part of Clinton's target audience. "I like her, but I think she's too polarizing," said Mary Kathryn Gepner, a librarian who attended a Richardson event in Mt. Ayr, and lists Edwards and Richardson as her first and second choices.

The following video will give you a sense of how Iowa voters are responding to Richardson. Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSUepIkRBOk

What vision is Richardson articulating for America when he speaks to Iowa voters? Richardson recently outlined his vision for our nation at the end of a speech on a new farm policy for America:

Unfortunately, in Washington today there's too much negativity. Negativity over health care. Negativity over immigration. But when I travel around Iowa, I see something different. I am reminded again that we are a positive nation, founded on inspiring principles.

I see a place where character is more than the contents of your bank account. Where leadership means more than a list of things you plan to do. Where your neighbor's word is more important than all the smooth talk in the world. I see a people who reward those who work hard; but also recognize that even the hardest workers cannot do it alone.

I see a nation attached to our land, but rooted in our values. I have a vision of America in ascendancy. It's a vision that all our people, whether they are in blue, red our purple states can share.

This is America. We landed a man on the moon. We built the internet. We beat the Great depression. We defeated the Nazis. We routed the Soviet Union in a global battle over the future of the planet. So my message for all those who are pessimists, those who are negative, those who are angry is this: We can do it.

To those who said I couldn't get those hostages out of Sudan -- I said I can. And I did it. To those who say we can't get a fair deal for our family farmers -- I say we can. To those who say we can't we can't revitalize our rural economy -- I say we can. To those who say we can't conserve our land and water -- I say we can. To those who say we can't spark a new energy revolution -- I say we can. To those who engage in the politics of personal attacks -- I say we can do better. If we work together, we can solve our problems. We can. And we will.