CANDIDATE PROFILE: John Edwards, Key tactic focuses on Iowa familiarity

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By Charlotte Eby | Tuesday, December 11, 2007 2:05 AM CST | () comments

DES MOINES — If any presidential candidate knows Iowa’s back roads and small towns, it’s Democrat John Edwards.

He likes to joke that he and his wife, Elizabeth, could give directions in Iowa. As a two-time presidential candidate, Edwards has visited all of the state’s 99 counties twice — both in his 2004 and current presidential campaigns.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina is trying to parlay that familiarity with the Hawkeye State into success in the state’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.

“I feel comfortable with the caucus-goers,” Edwards said in an interview. “I feel like I understand them. And I think there’s a level of trust that they have in me because they feel like they know me.”

During his first campaign, Edwards relied heavily on his biography: the son of a mill worker who was the first in his family to go to college and a lawyer who championed the plight of regular Americans.

Edwards said he has gained more seasoning and depth since his first campaign by working on issues and thinking about what he wants to do as president.

He sees changes in the country during that time as well.

“The war’s gotten worse, the health-care system’s gotten worse, the disparity between the wealthy and everybody else has gotten worse,” Edwards said.

Loyal backers who have stuck with Edwards through his second campaign think his message railing against the Washington establishment is on target. But critics say he has abandoned the positive campaign style he adopted four years ago.

Frank Best, a Columbus City Democrat, supported Edwards in 2004 and was serving as an Edwards county co-coordinator this year but switched allegiances to Barack Obama in September.

“After looking at everything, it just wasn’t the same campaign for me anymore that it was four years ago,” Best said.

Best was concerned with how Edwards would do after the Iowa caucuses, concerns he said were confirmed when the Edwards campaign decided to take public financing. That means Edwards will have to adhere to spending limits, which some think could put his campaign at a disadvantage against his well-funded rivals.

Best thinks Edwards ran a positive campaign four years ago compared to the campaign he is running this cycle.

“There’s so much more desperation and anger in it,” Best said. “You know, I think a lot of it’s probably everything they’re going through in their private lives, honestly.”

The dark cloud that has hung over his campaign this year has been his wife’s health. Diagnosed with breast cancer after the 2004 election, Elizabeth Edwards learned earlier this year that cancer had returned. Edwards said his wife has been an inspiring figure for many people, including him, and that the diagnosis has had an effect on the way he campaigns.

“It makes it much easier to just be direct and tell people what you believe,” Edwards said.

His campaign this year has shown a marked difference in tone. In the last campaign, Edwards refrained from harsh criticism of his Democratic rivals.

This time, he has been critical of Hillary Clinton’s ties to lobbyists and criticized what he calls “corporate” Democrats.

His message has also sharpened. He tells audiences the system is rigged against them and rails against what he describes as the entrenched interests in Washington.

“I’m concerned about it for our country, and I think there’s a widespread concern that the few are influencing the government against the interests of the many,” Edwards said, citing the Medicare prescription drug law and a failure to adopt universal health care.

Edwards thinks it is unrealistic that those interests are going to come together and give away their power, and he thinks Democrats are looking to put a fighter in the White House in 2008.

“My history is I’m a fighter,” he said. “I mean, I fought in courtrooms, I fought in the United States Senate, and I fought as a presidential and vice presidential candidate. I mean, I’m a battler. I’m used to the war and winning it.”

Edwards campaigned across Iowa as a relative unknown in early part of his first caucus race. He charmed Iowa crowds with his populist speeches about fighting poverty and bringing together the two Americas, the one for the wealthy and the one for everyone else.

Edwards propelled himself out of single digits in the polls in the final weeks to take second place in the 2004 caucuses behind John Kerry. He ultimately landed on Kerry’s ticket as the vice presidential nominee.

Earlier this year, Edwards faced criticism that his message didn’t match his actions after revelations he shelled out $400 for haircuts. Edwards said he understands the criticism but makes no apologies for his success.

“Nobody gave me anything,” Edwards said. “I mean, I was born into nothing. I worked my rear end off, and I’ve been able to give my kids a good life, and I’m proud of what I was able to do from my own work. But that doesn’t change a very basic fact, which is the thing that drives me to run for president is to give everybody those kind of chances.”

Former state lawmaker Bill Witt of Cedar Falls backed Edwards in 2004 and is sticking with him this time. He thinks Edwards is the most electable of the Democrats who are running and has offered the best policy ideas.

Witt, a longtime critic of the influence of money in politics, also likes that Edwards is publicly financing his campaign and won’t take money from political action committees or lobbyists.

“I think it’s the only way, ultimately, we’re going to get real democracy back into this country,” Witt said.

Along with the investment of time he’s spent in Iowa, Edwards has another advantage heading into the Jan. 3 caucuses. As a candidate who grew up in a rural area in North Carolina, he feels a connection with the small-town and rural voters in Iowa.

And he thinks a large share of those who attend his appearances are consistent caucus-goers.

“I think the people who come to my events are people that are going to show up” on caucus night, Edwards said.

Charlotte Eby can be contacted at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.