Obama returns to Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama paid homage to Iowa voters Friday, returning to the state that gave him a caucus win kick-starting his campaign.

"(What) you started here in Iowa has swept the nation. ... A whole new way of doing democracy started right here in Iowa and it's all across the country now," Obama said during a rally in Des Moines. "We've got to go ahead and win this election."

Obama's address, characterized by his campaign as a "closing argument," reiterated his platform on healthcare, education, energy independence, and taxes and the economy. He also ripped Republican candidate John McCain's positions on the same issues.

"At a moment like this, the last thing we can afford is four more years of the tired, old theory that says we should give more to billionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else," Obama said.

Obama warned listeners that the last four days of the campaign probably would see "the slash-and-burn, say-anything, do-anything politics" by his opponent.

But he said this election would provide "a chance to prove the one thing more powerful than the politics of anything-goes -- the one thing the cynics didn't count on -- is the will of the American people."