Carter urges Iowans to seek ‘balance

Jimmy Carter urged Iowa voters to screen out presidential candidates who don’t take a “balanced” position between Israel and the Palestinians. The former president told about 6,000 people at his lecture Wednesday at the University of Iowa in Iowa City that he chose the venue to promote his book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” because of Iowa’s disproportionate role in choosing presidential candidates. “The main reason I came to Iowa is to make sure you knew you could shape an outcome in the 2008 presidential election,” Carter was quoted as saying by the Sioux City Journal. “At least you can screen out candidates.” Iowa’s caucuses, the first contest for either party, often set the tone for the primaries, together with the first primary, in New Hampshire. Carter urged Iowans to extract pledges from candidates “that they will take a balanced position between Israel and Palestinians.”