The Iowa Independent blog reports:

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, praised the foreign policy skills of candidates Barack Obama and Bill Richardson while talking with Iowa Independent and several audience members following an Iowa City talk today.

"Obama has an incredible understanding of the issues," Zogby said.  "This is just an incredibly smart guy."

Zogby was less positive when asked about Hillary Clinton's statement that the U.S. is more secure than after the Iraq War.  "It's not a sellout so much as what they think passes as smart politics," he said.  "It's a bad calculation based more on the politics of convenience, and I don't trust that instinct."

Zogby didn't offer these observations in his address to a crowd of 125, many of whom munched on free pizza, and the Arab American Institute does not make endorsements.