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.