Early Birds Begin 2008 Courtship Dance

[deadparrot]

HUDSON, Iowa — When Congress began its August recess, Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana took a weekend off, then headed straight back to the Midwest — to Iowa.
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"It's good to be out of Washington and back out in the real world," he told a small gathering of party loyalists, chomping fresh ears of corn at a Black Hawk County fundraising dinner.

It may seem early for Bayh, who is eyeing a 2008 White House bid, to be campaigning, more than 1,000 days before the next presidential election and less than 10 months since the last one ended. But he's not the first to arrive in Iowa or to show up in New Hampshire, the two states that traditionally start the nominating process.

Already, well over a dozen prospective candidates from both parties have visited the two states or taken other steps toward a possible run for president. For some, that has meant penning political books (Democratic Sen. Joseph R. Biden (news, bio, voting record) Jr. of Delaware), for others, toughening their stance on social issues to woo conservatives (Republican Govs. George E. Pataki of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts) or revving up political action committees (Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20050819/ts_latimes/earlybirdsbegin2008courtshipdance