The Road Warrior...Edwards can still win Iowa by wrapping up smaller precincts-Newsweek

[MilesColtrane]

Good story, for Newsweek.

I didn't know that the Gore briefly considered Edwards as his running mate in the 2000 election.
Imagine what a difference Edwards would have made instead of Dweeberman.


http://www.newsweek.com/id/78238/page/1

Those who know Edwards never doubted he would be back this year, campaigning even harder than he did the last time. A relentless trial lawyer who got rich by outworking and outpreparing the competition, he spent the last three years applying those skills to plot his comeback. He was convinced that a retooled version of the rich-versus-poor "two Americas" theme he adopted in 2004 would find an even larger audience now.

On the stump, Edwards campaigns with the urgency of a man who is running out of time. He might be. A third-place showing in Iowa would likely spell the end of his campaign, and his presidential ambitions, for good. Yet Edwards believes he can still come from behind for an upset win. Political reporters may like the story line (and simplicity) of depicting Iowa as a Clinton-Obama smackdown, but Edwards's strategists say that the media and pollsters are overlooking a more important, if less glamorous, story

For months, Edwards has been rounding up support in the state's rural precincts where the front runners have paid less attention. While Obama and Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines and Ames, Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City (population: 2,189). That's important, the strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. In other words, even if he loses to Obama and Clinton in the state's bigger cities, he can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts that other candidates have ignored. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Weird.....one minute, Edwards is the candidate the media ignores,

next minute, he's the candidate appearing on three talk shows tomorrow, the cable news channel have been talking him up, and Newsweek, owned by Washington Post shareholders and General Electric is giving him some good coverage.

So why is the media being nice to the Anti-corporation guy? It's not like most of the media is not owned by 5 or so conglamorates of mega corporations. :shrug:

[Blackhatjack]

2. The Edwards Campaign Strategists Know Exactly What They Are Doing...

Edwards has spent 6 yrs campaigning in Iowa, and he knows the Iowa Caucus rules better than any other candidate.

Just don't expect to hear the MSM call the Iowa Caucuses for Edwards until the next day, because that is how long it will take to tabulate all the rural caucus results.

[MilesColtrane]

3. He's the hardest working, and most politically savvy of all the Democratic hopefuls.

Polished, not afraid to fight, and the most progressive of those who have a chance in the general election.