"Obama Meets 'Iowa Press'"

Political Radar (ABC News:)

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Race was the main topic during Barack Obama’s appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa Public Television Friday.

Obama downplayed the role of his race in the campaign saying, "People are less concerned about race and much more concerned about, 'is this somebody who is going to be fighting for me?'"

Saying that he believes he'll receive a fair run in Iowa, Obama used his U.S. Senate run as an example how he could win in the predominately white state, "Downstate Illinois is pretty similar to Iowa culturally and demographically. We ended up winning that primary by 20 points, we won the white vote, we won the rural vote, we won the farmer vote, there wasn't a vote we didn't win against strong candidates."

On the issue of electibility Obama took a veiled swipe at perhaps the most well known candidate among the Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"Surveys show that I can appeal to the Republicans, Independents in a way that none of the other nominees can… If you start off with half the country not wanting to vote for you, you don't have a lot of margin of error," he said.

Obama regularly refers to Hillary Clinton's past, on the campaign, trail, as "baggage."

“I think we’re going to win this place,” Obama professed on the Iowa TV program.

Obama is reportedly trailing Clinton in the polls out of Iowa. He often states that he believes whoever wins Iowa will mostly likely be the nominee for the general election.