New York Times, NY 03-09-07 Edwards Seeks Momentum in Iowa By JOHN M. BRODER SIOUX CITY, Iowa, March 9 — Outside the blinding glare of Hillarobama, John Edwards has been quietly building his campaign organization in the early primary and caucus states and amassing a bankroll to remain competitive in the crush of contests early next year. He is in Iowa again this weekend on his 19th trip to the state since early 2005, far more than any of his Democratic rivals. He is investing heavily here in the belief that a victory in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14, 2008, could make him unstoppable in the dozen or more contests from coast to coast that will quickly follow. The unspoken corollary is that a loss here could spell the end of his try for the White House. “Iowa is important for everybody’s prospects,” Mr. Edwards said Friday in an interview between appearances in Council Bluffs and Sioux City. “It is critical for us.” Although he has been on the road almost continuously since announcing his candidacy at the end of December, Mr. Edwards, the Democrats’ vicepresidential nominee in 2004, is not getting nearly the public and news media attention of the two stars in the party, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. That is both a blessing and a curse. He does not have to deal with scores of reporters at every event and front-page articles detailing his personal finances or his political feuds with rivals. He can skip from town to town in his chartered jet, picking up checks from donors and meeting intimately with small groups of voters. But his current lack of national attention also carries a price: he is in third place in most national polls, his appearances on the evening news are far between and he has to battle for standing in what now appears to some to be a two-person race. “I’m keeping my head down and doing my work,” he said in response to a reporter’s question after an appearance before about 250 people at a center for the elderly in Council Bluffs. In the later interview he added: “This is a long campaign, and there will be ups and downs in the attention everyone gets. My plan is to focus on substance and whatever else needs to be done, including fund-raising.” Mr. Edwards, a former one-term senator from North Carolina, is being coy about his fund-raising, in the hope of making a splash when first-quarter money figures are released next month. Playing down expectations, Mr. Edwards’s finance chairman, Fred Baron, a trial lawyer from Dallas, said he could not hope to match the totals that would be reported by Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama. Mr. Baron would say only that Mr. Edwards was on track to exceed the $7.4 million he raised in the comparable period of the last election cycle, the first three months of 2003. Mr. Baron added that the campaign was conducting a robust Internet fund-raising effort and had already raised many times the $100,000 it brought in online in 2003. An Internet fund-raising appeal begun last week after the conservative commentator Ann Coulter referred to Mr. Edwards using an antigay slur has already yielded more than $300,000, Mr. Baron said. Mr. Edwards has also been averaging nearly one fund-raising event a day for the past six weeks. In just the past week, he has tapped donors in Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Seattle and Houston. While some polls show Mr. Edwards leading in Iowa, where he finished a strong second in the 2004 caucuses, winning against the Clinton juggernaut and the charismatic appeal of Mr. Obama would be a struggle, Iowa political analysts said. One wild card in the Iowa race disappeared on Feb. 23, when Tom Vilsack, the popular former governor, withdrew from the presidential contest, saying he could not raise enough money to be competitive. “Now it’s a jump ball,” said Gordon R. Fischer, a former Democratic Party chairman in Iowa. “John Edwards is in a very enviable position. He’s been through the caucuses before; he’s been to all 99 counties and 400 towns and cities all over Iowa campaigning. He’s done a good job since 2004 in keeping in touch with Iowa and Iowans. He’s ahead organizationally, but there’s 10 months to go.” “But,” Mr. Fischer said, “Senator Clinton is a rock star wherever she goes, and she’s greeted by throngs of adoring Democrats.” He added: “Same thing for Obama. He’s greeted by very, very large and enthusiastic crowds here.” Steffen W. Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University, said Mr. Edwards’s fate here hinged in large measure on what happened to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama in the coming months. “It depends on whether they self-destruct or essentially massacre each other and leave Democrats wondering who else is out there,” Mr. Schmidt said. “Unfortunately for Edwards, the answer for many Democrats is Al Gore.” Meanwhile, on the ground in Iowa, voters are just starting to sample the goods on offer this year. Gina Hatcher, a 40-year-old county worker in Council Bluffs, said she was impressed with Mr. Edwards’s plan for universal health care, a more detailed program than any of the other candidates had offered this year. “I think he’s honest about it,” Ms. Hatcher said, referring to Mr. Edwards’s estimate that providing health care to all Americans would cost as much as $120 billion and require higher taxes for some people. “Hillary has already had her swing at health care,” she added.