John Edwards for President-Why John Edwards Can Win Iowa

Why John Edwards Can Win Iowa

Senator Edwards is gaining momentum in Iowa. He has strong grassroots organizations in every county and everyday, more Iowans are joining his campaign. And people are starting to take notice – this week, John Edwards is featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine. A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll that was just released shows Edwards leading in the Iowa caucuses. Edwards leads with 30 percent in a poll of Democratic voters who said they intend to participate in the Jan. 3 presidential caucuses, followed by Clintonwith 26 percent and Obama with 24 percent.

Edwards has also recently received the support of some very prominent Iowa leaders. This week, Edwards was endorsed by Iowa’s First Lady Mari Culver, and a few weeks ago, Edwards received the endorsement of Congressman Bruce Braley. These endorsements are a sign of Edwards’ growing support in Iowa. You can feel the energy for Edwards on the ground. During his eight-day bus tour, he got great crowds and frequent standing ovations as he finished speaking.

The Des Moines Register debate was a defining moment for our campaign. Iowans saw that John Edwards really stands out as the candidate with the backbone and honesty to say that we are in a fight for our country and we need to take on the special interests if we are going to have a country that works for hard-working families and the middle class. Edwards has done this his whole life – and won.

Edwards has traveled to all 99 counties, reaching out to caucus goers, taking their questions, and giving straight answers – and Iowans are responding to his positive vision for change.

Edwards enjoys tremendous support from labor groups who add organization muscle to the campaign and are actively working to help Edwards’ campaign in Iowa. Edwards has been endorsed by Iowa SEIU and 11 other state SEIU state councils. These endorsements add to other unions that have endorsed John, including: the Iowa Postal Workers, UNITE-HERE's Midwest Regional Joint Board the United Steelworkers, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the Transport Workers Union of America, and the United Mine Workers of America. These unions represents thousands of Iowans and their families – in every county in Iowa – who are supporting Edwards in the caucuses and reaching out to their friends, neighbors and co-workers to tell them about Edwards’ campaign. Edwards also enjoys the support of Caucus for Priorities, a group with 10,000 members who have committed to caucus for Edwards because of his commitment to rooting out waste in our military budget and addressing critical domestic needs like health care, education and poverty.

Our campaign in Iowa is growing stronger everyday. More and more Iowans are reading about his ideas in his book of policies, “The Plan to Build One America” and they are responding to the strength of his ideas and commitment to making sure every person has the same opportunities to get ahead that he’s had. Our campaign feels very good about where we are, and we will continue to work hard and reach out to undecided caucus goers to share with them Edwards’ bold vision for change.

While we feel very good that Edwards will have a strong finish in Iowa, we are running a national campaign. In addition to the strength of our operation in Iowa, we have just as strong operations in states all across the country. We have eight times the number of field staff in the state of New Hampshire than the Edwards campaign had in 2004; we recently added two dozen field staffers in Nevada; and we were the first candidate to run ads in South Carolina (the state John Edwards was born in and won by 15 points in 2004). Given our support throughout the labor community and advisors at work in all February 5th states, we will have the infrastructure in place to seize on momentum from strong early place finishes.

--Chris Kofinis
Communications Director, John Edwards for President