Sizing Up the Opposition: Carville and Dowd Tell Candidates How to Win

As the Iowa caucus looms tonight, two of the country's best-known political minds have sized up the candidates' strengths and weaknesses.

Democratic strategist and author James Carville weighed in on the Republicans, while former Bush chief strategist and ABC News political contributor Matthew Dowd talked about the Democratic hopefuls.

Carville on Mitt Romney

"Romney has to do something different. He is not going to win this thing to please anybody with this kind of cookie-cutter, blow-dried talking points predictable campaign he has," Carville said. "He's completely, totally predictable, and he's completely, totally political."

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"He needs to come out of, something out of left field or something," Carville added.

Dowd on Hillary Clinton

"I think the No. 1 assets that she's had and has had going for her is that inevitability that she's going to win," Dowd said. "The best thing I can say is maintain the lead because once she loses the lead, she's like the New York Yankees. … Once she starts losing, she could be on a death spiral."

Carville on Mike Huckabee

"He's got to quit making errors because errors get exaggerated and they're starting to become part of his persona. And that's always dangerous," Carville said of Huckabee. "Once you start making them, then your psychology goes against you. So everybody's looking for it — your opponents, your press and everything."

Dowd on John Edwards

"Edwards is going to have to show he's not yesterday's team," Dowd said. "There's doubts about him because they think, 'Oh, yeah, he was great.' He's going to have to show he wasn't a team that's just had their time and their prime is gone."

Carville on John McCain

"John McCain can't be anybody but John McCain. He's incapable," Carville said. "I say that he's got to wait for his pitch."

"If he tries to go too fast, if he tries to be something else than John McCain, it never works for him," Carville added. "Just hang in there. Wait for your pitch. Don't swing wildly. Hope it comes naturally."