John Edwards for President? for Friday, October 26, 2007

Edwards has been campaigning in Iowa just like Obama and Hillary and Richardson. In fact, I remember seeing that all of these candidates have visited the state a significant number of days this year. 

Edwards has also been campaigning throughout the country (we've seen him three times already in California), even in states that some Democratic frontrunners wouldn't bother visiting because they would never even stand a chance of winning there. States that have Democratic governors but would go Republican before they would vote for Hillary.

According to this Des Moines Register column on October 18, 2007 by David Yepsen, "To some in American politics, John Edwards is toast."

But watching him work in the sweaty auditorium of a Waukee elementary school Tuesday night, one gets a different feeling: Iowa Democrats may still give this guy a new lease on political life.

Why? John Edwards is tenacious and still in the hunt for first place. While the latest Iowa Poll shows Clinton at 29 percent, Edwards slipping to 23 percent and Obama at 22 percent, it's also important to remember that both Clinton and Obama have dropped millions on television commercials in the state. Edwards has yet to make his big media buy.

...While Obama and Clinton have only recently discovered the fact that 49 percent of Iowa's Democratic caucus-goers live in rural and small-town Iowa, Edwards has been mining those tiny lodes for years.

For example, his schedule for Wednesday called for him to spend the day in far-northwest Iowa, where Democrats are ordinarily found only on endangered-species lists. (I know Democrats running for governor who don't make it to Rock Rapids.) Yet Edwards was to campaign there, and end his day on a hog farm near Cylinder, population 110.

While he didn't get a rock star's crowd in Waukee this week, he did get 257 local Democrats to show up: Retirees. Farmers. Teachers. Working folks. A few suburbanites In short, he attracted a crowd that looked exactly like the types of people who actually show up at a Democratic caucus in January. (Or December.)

...Perhaps the best argument for Edwards' candidacy is his potential for electability. While Clinton and Obama make the case they could attract new voters, like women and minorities, in a general-election fight the case for Edwards is that he's not as risky. He doesn't have the polarizing negatives Clinton has and is a more seasoned candidate than Obama, though some of his positions smack of class war. His campaign believes he would help congressional Democratic candidates.

Edwards has argued he could attract votes just about anywhere in the country. And as y'all know, Democrats historically don't win the White House without a Southerner on the ticket.

Changed 8:11 am October 26, 2007

As Joe Trippi put it in an email on October 18, 2007 to Edwards supporters, it is a premise that is increasingly echoed in opinion pieces and blog entries and analysis...that the right Democratic nominee can compete and win in many of the states that the Democrats have typically given up on in the last few elections. With Edwards on the top of the Democratic ticket, the playbook for winning the White House changes drastically and benefits Democrats runnning for Congress and other positions:

Imagine election night 2008. From around the country the results are coming in thick and fast. We've won Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky... it's a Democratic landslide....

By the time the election night dust settles, the Washington pundits are speechless—the Democratic Party has won 280 seats in the House and 61 seats in the Senate, majorities that allow the new Democratic president to implement bold and vigorous change. The day of deadlocked agendas and timid politics is over.

A pipe dream? Far from it.

With retirements and scandals among Republicans continuing to open up more competitive seats in the Senate, and the disgraced policies of George Bush dragging down the Republicans in House and state-level races in nearly every district in the country, Democrats across the country know next year could be more than just an election year—it could be the year when a fundamental realignment takes place, from state houses to the White House.

In states like Texas, Oklahoma, Maine, Wisconsin, Georgia, Virginia, North Dakota and Missouri, John Edwards enjoys strong support from Democratic legislators and leaders. They understand that the Democratic Party needs a nominee who can compete—and win—in red, blue and purple states across the country and help sweep Democrats at all levels to victory in 2008.

...The difference between winning or losing control of legislative chambers in many states will be greatly influenced by who is the nominee for the general election. The best chance—in some areas, the only chance—of ensuring Democratic control throughout this country is with John Edwards leading the charge for Democrats next fall.