Report from the campaign trail
Over at the Daily Kos, Golden Treasure has this report from Iowa:
Edwards events are drawing huge, enthusiastic crowds. I went to an Edwards event yesterday evening in Knoxville, 25 miles east of here. Based on the fact that Knoxville is small (population 7,800), largely Republican, and has been trending among Democrats towards Clinton (the County Dem. Chair has been campaigning for Clinton for months), turnout was expected to be about 150. Based on the number of chairs that were set out and filled (280) and at least 50 people standing, Edwards staffers literally had their jaws drop at the size of the crowd.
I timed the speech and counted the number of times that applause forced Edwards to either pause or raise his voice. In 23 minutes, he was interrupted 11 times, with many other instances of lesser applause. My personal favorite among the applause lines (and this is a paraphrase): "No corporate CEO is any better than any of you." The crowd gave him a standing ovation at the end of the formal talk, and then again at the conclusion of the 25-minute Q&A session. Incredibly, among those standing and applauding were at least fifteen Republicans who came to the talk and have told former Kossack AnthonySF that they intend to change their registration to caucus for Edwards.
Every evening in the Indianola office, we tally up the results of our phone calling and canvassing. The most significant number is this: when we look at the likely caucus-goers who told the campaign in the past that they were undecided and who are now committing to a candidate, 60% are committing to Edwards. Since the 40% who are committing to others are split among Clinton, Obama, and others (Richardson, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich), this is a truly significant movement towards Edwards.
Last week - before I left New Mexico - I heard the talking heads on Meet the Press say that Obama and Clinton are worried about Edwards in Iowa rather than each other. From what I've seen, in terms of organization, enthusiasm of volunteers, and response of Iowans, they have reason to be worried.
Edwards' stump speech talks a lot about corporate control and the need for a president who feels in his gut the need to take on the corporations and political powers - but I repeat myself - that have been running the country, as opposed to one who has figured out in his head that it's important to say that. He definitely speaks with passion, and we can all hope that he speaks with real commitment, because if he can turn the enthusiasm he is generating in Iowa into a national force, we may yet have someone to vote for rather than against in a presidential election.
I timed the speech and counted the number of times that applause forced Edwards to either pause or raise his voice. In 23 minutes, he was interrupted 11 times, with many other instances of lesser applause. My personal favorite among the applause lines (and this is a paraphrase): "No corporate CEO is any better than any of you." The crowd gave him a standing ovation at the end of the formal talk, and then again at the conclusion of the 25-minute Q&A session. Incredibly, among those standing and applauding were at least fifteen Republicans who came to the talk and have told former Kossack AnthonySF that they intend to change their registration to caucus for Edwards.
Every evening in the Indianola office, we tally up the results of our phone calling and canvassing. The most significant number is this: when we look at the likely caucus-goers who told the campaign in the past that they were undecided and who are now committing to a candidate, 60% are committing to Edwards. Since the 40% who are committing to others are split among Clinton, Obama, and others (Richardson, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich), this is a truly significant movement towards Edwards.
Last week - before I left New Mexico - I heard the talking heads on Meet the Press say that Obama and Clinton are worried about Edwards in Iowa rather than each other. From what I've seen, in terms of organization, enthusiasm of volunteers, and response of Iowans, they have reason to be worried.
Edwards' stump speech talks a lot about corporate control and the need for a president who feels in his gut the need to take on the corporations and political powers - but I repeat myself - that have been running the country, as opposed to one who has figured out in his head that it's important to say that. He definitely speaks with passion, and we can all hope that he speaks with real commitment, because if he can turn the enthusiasm he is generating in Iowa into a national force, we may yet have someone to vote for rather than against in a presidential election.
I find this deeply encouraging-- the mere fact that a Daily Kos diarist has taken the trouble to come all the way from New Mexico to Iowa, and do some last-minute campaigning, is fantastic. The enthusiasm John Edwards generates is, as the diarist points out, a positive one. I feel good about what Edwards could do as our President, he is far more than the least bad candidate, he is the most inspiring progressive candidate out there. We'll soon see if all the hard work of all these fired-up volunteers pays off in Iowa!
1 comment:
I was deeply disappointed by Edwards. Fooled us he did.
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