E.J. Dionne: Edwards' Hope

[babylonsister]

Iowa Will Make or Break Edwards


Posted on Dec 4, 2007

By E.J. Dionne

NASHUA, N.H.—In the back of a crowded room at Daniel Webster College here, Joe Trippi, John Edwards’ campaign manager, watches closely as his candidate delivers a series of passionately populist orations, summed up by his declaration that “the few are controlling this democracy for the many.”

Next to Trippi, his colleague Glen Pearcy tends a camera recording every word that the tie-less, bluejeans-clad Edwards speaks for possible use in future television commercials. Standing before a large American flag, the former North Carolina senator insists that the country shouldn’t “trade a crowd of corporate Republicans for a crowd of corporate Democrats.”

As the news about the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination focuses on the increasingly bitter confrontation between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Edwards is fighting for survival. He knows his fate hinges on a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses that are now less than a month away. He will be out of the race if he runs third.

If Edwards fades, supporters of all three candidates agree that his backers are more likely to drift to Obama than to Clinton. Yet if Edwards gains ground, he could push either Clinton or Obama into third place—crippling one of them.

The Iowa polls suggest that this is Obama’s time. Over the weekend, The Des Moines Register released a survey showing the Illinois senator with 28 percent to Clinton’s 25 percent and Edwards’ 23 percent. Obama was up six points from the paper’s last poll, conducted in October. Clinton was down four, and Edwards held steady. A Pew/Associated Press poll released Monday still put Clinton on top, but interviewing for the survey began in early November.

The Clinton camp is clearly worried and the candidate herself is now taking Obama on personally. Addressing reporters in Iowa on Sunday, she spoke of “a big difference between our courage and our convictions, what we believe and what we’re willing to fight for.”

Standing in the way of a straight Obama-Clinton struggle is Edwards. He has been campaigning in Iowa since 2003, nearly won the caucuses over John Kerry four years ago, and stubbornly remains within easy striking distance of the front-runners. The Edwards campaign has a theory of how he can beat both of them.

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071204_iowa_will_make_or_break_for_edwards/

[underpants]

1. It's anybody's ball game now

BTW- I love Dionne's articles. I notice that he isn't on This Week anymore...gee wonder why

[IndyOp]

2. There's a lifetime maximum limit for listening to bullshit after which

you experience spontaneous combustion and Dionne has gotten within 60-minutes of that limit so he can no longer go on "This Week"?

That would be my hypothesis about his not being on 'This Week' any more.

:hi:

[underpants]

4. That and George Will is scared to death of anyone with a brain sitting next to him

Zacharia is allowed on but he supported the war so Will has that "he beat off to the pictures too!" blackmail thing going on with him. Dionne has some nice outlooks on things, not earthshaking or crude like the rudepundit but he does mention the reality that no one else in DC seems to give to wits about. Cokie is reliably hammered from the night before and Donna Brazille.... oh lord I need to stop now before I get sick going down the whole list of the invited christians into Will's coliseum/sandbox.

[BeyondGeography]

3. It's a fascinating race

Every election cycle, I lament that Iowa gets the nominating process pretty much to itself for the better part of a year. But you can't accuse voters there of not taking it seriously. Somehow, they always manage to turn the CW on its head and make things interesting.