Edwards: Money Doesn't Matter
(CBS)
EMMETSBURG, IOWA -- At a campaign event in Emmetsburg, a gentleman opened up the Q and A session saying that Michelle Obama told them at a recent event that John Edwards would not have enough money to go on and win. And he asked Edwards to respond.
And Edwards teed up and hit the political equivalent of a 350-yard Tiger Woods-esque drive.
"We're not gonna have an auction in Iowa. We're gonna have an election," said Edwards. "We're gonna decide who the best candidate is, not who the person is who can raise the most money."
Edwards continued for another 4 minutes to tell how frightening it must be to the other candidates that someone like him who's spending a fraction of what he's spending is still competitive.
"When you're resorting to arguments about how much money somebody has, you're in a bad place," said Edwards. "If they have more money, and the money's what matters, why are they worried about me?"
He added later in his monologue, "I just want to say how unbelievably weak it is to be arguing that you should be the candidate because you have more money than the other candidate. Does that convince anybody that that's who you should caucus for? Because you shouldn't even be here if that's what you're looking for."
After closing his thoughts, Elizabeth stood up and grabbed the microphone.
"You may not be surprised but I am surprised and disappointed in Michelle," she said before handing the mic back to her husband.
Mr. Edwards was left speechless for a long moment, with one of those "there goes Elizabeth again" looks on his face, then smiled and asked the audience who had the next question.
Perhaps in a preemptive attempt at damage control before actually taking the next question, Edwards said:
"I want to say clear to every Iowa caucus goer who can hear me through those cameras or who can hear me in person: I know that I've been getting a lot of attention from the other two candidates in the last two days. My campaign is not about them and I am not interested in attacking them. I am interested in doing what I want to do for America and running a positive campaign. And that is exactly what I'm gonna do."
An Obama victory will be one for the books. It will reaffirm the state''s ability to give worthy candidates of any background a strong launch into the primaries. It will excite the nation and astound the world. Iowa gains little from the other candidates and loses a lot.
The issue for Iowa, this year, is not in electing a president, that will be decided later. This year the duty lies in vetting and launching an exciting new candidate, that the skeptics say it can''t or won''t for historic reasons.
Down to earth an Obama nod will improve the field and the eventual nominee, most likely Hillary, it will keep the focus on the Democratic race and the party unified, with a similar promise to the nation. This contest indeed is a test for Iowa to affirm the higher ideals of this nation and make a statement to the world.
An Obama win will show that MONEY can buy media and manipulate democracy by bringing untested, inexperienced candidates with proven business or political leadership to the front line. Obama is a "nice" but risky proposition to our country.
An Edwards win in Iowa will make the Democrats race a real contest and that will be good for the party. He probably doesn%u2019t have the same amount of money than Hillary or Obama; but he has name recognition for real and people can easily be motivated to support his career. he has the best progressive ideas, real agenda and is working hard for the nomination. Edwards wants to change and re energize the Democratic party from the base up, the middle class across party lines; he is fighting for a real chance...no just slogans, his message is clear and sound. When the big press give him enough coverage his message will reach across party lines to independents and some republicans fed up with Washington gridlock and the powers of big corporations and BIG MONEY.
Go Edwards! show that no one can buy the nomination, not even with the Washington oiled machine, lobbyists, big powers or big TV celebrities or big Hollywood and the controlled media.
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An Obama win will show that MONEY can buy media and manipulate democracy by bringing untested, inexperienced candidates WITHOUT proven business or political leadership to the front line, and that is a risk!. Obama is a "nice" but risky proposition to our country.
An Edwards win in Iowa will make the Democrats race a real contest and that will be good for the party. He probably doesn%u2019t have the same amount of money than Hillary or Obama; but he has name recognition for real and people can easily be motivated to support his career. he has the best progressive ideas, real agenda and is working hard for the nomination. Edwards wants to change and re energize the Democratic party from the base up, the middle class across party lines; he is fighting for a real chance...no just slogans, his message is clear and sound. When the big press give him enough coverage his message will reach across party lines to independents and some republicans fed up with Washington gridlock and the powers of big corporations and BIG MONEY.
Go Edwards! show that no one can buy the nomination, not even with the Washington oiled machine, lobbyists, big powers or big TV celebrities or big Hollywood and the controlled media.
Id vote for Clinton over Obama or Edwards. At least we know what were getting and she''s not as bad as the neocons would lead us to believe. The Republican Women hater party will never vote for a women anyway.