Edwards doesn't get the cheering 20-somethings Barack Obama attracts to his huge events. Nor does he attract the hundreds of women who show up for Hillary Clinton's. And he doesn't have a bubble of security officers or self-important staffers ushering him around and keeping reporters away.
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.
He's also getting his share of union endorsements, although those don't produce the results they once did.
He spends more time in Iowa than his rivals. (His wife jokes that if someone asked the couple for directions in Iowa, they could provide them.)
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/OPINION01/710180366/1035/OPINION