Ads Fill Iowa Airwaves in Final Countdown

DES MOINES, Iowa – Making a shift in the closing days to the Iowa caucuses, Howard Dean (search) and Dick Gephardt (search) have stopped airing commercials bashing each other.

But that doesn't mean the airwaves aren't clogged with campaign pitches in a last-minute search for undecided voters.

Dean and Gephardt had been on a round robin of negative advertising opposing each other's positions on the war in Iraq, Medicare and a host of other issues.

Gephardt said he had to counter Dean's one-two punches, but recalibrated now that Dean's tactics have changed.

"When Howard Dean took down his ad criticizing me, we took down our ad criticizing him," Gephardt told Fox News.

Like the other candidates in the race, the two now talk about empowering Americans and universal hope, but their goals are still the same. The ad wars have cost the candidates $9 million in Iowa, about $100 per prospective Democratic caucus-goer.

Part of the reason for the big TV spend is that caucus-goers are generally older and don't tend to be Internet savvy.

The average TV viewer in Iowa will see up to 20 ads per day in the waning hours until Monday's caucuses. The tone will be positive as the candidates hope the sweet talk will close the biggest political sale of their lives.

Click here to watch this fair and balanced report by Fox News' Major Garrett.