Priceless: One-Term President Jimmy Carter Gives Obama Advice On How To Win A Second Term

Let's hope Jimmy Carter's advice works as well for President Obama as it did for him.

(ABC News) — Former President Jimmy Carter has some advice for Barack Obama as he gears up for the 2012 election: Don’t alienate voters with controversial positions.

The Georgia Democrat told The Associated Press on Tuesday that just about everything he did alienated voters, from sealing a treaty to hand over the Panama Canal to establishing diplomatic ties with China.

Carter said: “If you’re main goal is to get re-elected, avoid a controversial subject as much as you can in the first term.”

Carter also faced Democratic opposition from Sen. Ted Kennedy during his 1980 re-election bid, which he said was a big handicap that Obama won’t have.

The remarks came as Iowa residents cast the first votes of the 2012 presidential race to help determine Obama’s Republican opponent.