Edwards Woos Other Candidates' Supporters

AMES, Iowa — Kicking off a 36-hour marathon of campaigning, John Edwards dismissed a recent poll showing his campaign still mired in third place and later declared himself the best second choice in the caucuses set for Thursday.

“I think we are the strongest candidate for second choice among caucus-goers, and I think what will move them is this very personal, passionate message of ending corporate greed and standing up for their children and grandchildren,” Edwards told reporters after an appearance here before several hundred people.

The Iowa Democratic caucuses allow voters to choose a second candidate if their first choice receives little backing. Edwards’ advisers have noted for some time that they hope to woo these supporters of lower-tier candidates.

A man selected at random from the crowd here said Edwards was indeed his second pick, after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.

“My choice up to this point is Richardson, but I’m feeling good with Edwards,” said George Patrick, an employee of Iowa State University and an Ames resident.

“They’re pretty close for me, but Richardson is a little bit more low-key.”

The results of a recent Des Moines Register poll showed the former senator from North Carolina still trailing Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, despite some evidence that Edwards may be gaining momentum.

“I don’t need a poll to tell me we’re moving, moving every single day in the right direction in this campaign,” Edwards said Tuesday as he launched the 36-hour “Marathon for the Middle Class.”

As with much of his campaigning, the tour makes repeated appearances in small-town Iowa, where Edwards hopes his humble roots and repeated visits will have strong appeal.

The rural strategy plays on inconsistencies in the Iowa caucus system, in which rural voters often have proportionally more clout in caucus results.

Edwards faces the challenge of retaining supporters from his 2004 presidential bid while expanding his reach to compete with the massive turnout operations assembled by his rivals.

The experience of his earlier campaign forms mixed blessings today.

On the upside, he entered this year’s contest with an enormous base of existing support.

He finished with 32 percent of the vote in 2004.

And these final days of the campaign have played out in ways similar to the earlier bid, his advisors say: he is behind in the polls, underestimated by the media, and now he hopes to muster a late surge to pull out a surprisingly strong performance.

But some differences between 2008 and 2004 are stark.

In the earlier campaign, Edwards ran on a more moderate platform and faced a very different field of candidates.

This year, his message is liberal and pointed, painting corporate interests as an epic enemy and pledging to “give you back the Democratic Party.”

It risks alienating his past backers, campaign experts said, even as it may come across as too partisan to attract independents and Republicans.

In Carroll County, though, a rural area west of Des Moines that Edwards visited two days ago, it appears his rural focus may be working.

The campaign’s county chair, a retired school bus driver inconveniently named Bill Clinton, says he expects more than twice as much support for Edwards this year in his tiny precinct than in 2004.

“I will be really surprised if it isn’t thirty people who show up. It was 12 people four years ago,” said Clinton, who has never met the eponymous former president and is no fan of Hillary Clinton. (“She doesn’t take questions,” he said.)

Clinton says he has maintained past support and managed to recruit seven Republicans to caucus for Edwards.

“I hate to say this, but Hillary and Obama may not have enough people to be counted, or they’ll barely be viable,” Clinton said.

Polls indicate that Ewards has retained much of his earlier backing and remains the favorite of veteran caucus-goers.

Edwards’ Iowa spokesman Dan Leistikow said the campaign would bank on its 2004 support and its strength in rural areas.

“He really has made a commitment to getting to every corner of the state. The caucus system rewards candidates who spend time in all 99 counties and have organizations in all 99 counties,” Leistikow said.

Even if Iowans caucus for Edwards in the same numbers they did earlier, he would likely perform worse.
While his finish in 2004 represented nearly a third of voters then, the same number is expected to represent only 22 to 25 percent this time because of increased turnout.

The Des Moines Register poll showed that Obama has been particularly successful in recruiting first-time caucus-goers.

Perhaps more than any other candidate in Iowa, Edwards benefits from the lessons of experience. Signing off a stump speech, he cites one mistake he made four years ago.

“A lady said to me, 'Edwards, I kind of liked you, I might have voted for you. But you never asked me,'” he recalled.

“I’m not making that mistake again! I’m asking you to caucus for me Thursday night.”