Gephardt campaign moves into high gear

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- Rep. Dick Gephardt, seeking to be the Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. president in 2004, plans to hit seven Iowa counties in a campaign blitz Saturday.

The Missouri congressman is locked in a tight four-way race with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of South Carolina ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses.

Recent polls suggest he and Dean may be losing momentum to the reviving campaigns of Kerry and Edwards. Therefore, defying pouring, freezing rain, Gephardt is seeking to give his campaign a last-lap boost with a one-day sweep through the communities of Solon, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, Burlington, Mt. Pleasant and Ottumwa.