OSCEOLA &#8212 Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson on Tuesday downplayed comments he made earlier about it being God’s will that the Iowa caucuses should lead the nominating season.

“Look, that was an off-the-cuff comment where I said Iowa and New Hampshire should be first,” he told reporters after a campaign stop in south-central Iowa. When pressed further, he said Iowa should launch the primary calendar because “it’s a tradition in American politics that has worked.”

“Iowa scrutinizes candidates through a grassroots state. They are very good at winnowing down candidates,” he said. “They don’t listen to national polls. Iowa voters are very independent and issue-oriented.”

Richardson told a crowd on Monday at the Northwest Iowa Labor Council Picnic in Sioux City that there were weighty reasons Iowa should lead the presidential nominating season, according to a report in The Des Moines Register.

“Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary,” he said Monday. “And I want you to know who was the first candidate to sign a pledge not to campaign anywhere if they got ahead of Iowa. It was Bill Richardson.”

The Register reported that some people who attended the event snickered after the comment.

During Tuesday’s stop in Osceola, Richardson said he doesn’t mind that other Democratic candidates get more media attention, noting that most polls show his support has increased in the past few months. More troublesome, he said, was the frequent bickering between frontrunners Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama.

“I think it’s important to stay positive in this campaign,” he told about 100 people gathered at a co-op winery. “. Let’s get into the issues important to the American people.”

Much has been made of the possibility of electing the first woman or black president, but Richardson said in response to a question that he didn’t plan to put emphasis on his Hispanic heritage.

“I don’t like to be typecast. I’m very proud to be Hispanic, but if I used my mother’s maiden name, it would be so obvious that I’m doing it for votes,” he said. “I’m after everybody, not just Hispanics.”