Edwards Does A Little Boasting
Many-a-member of the Conventional Wisdom crowd is busy reassessing the presidential prospects of John Edwards, particularly in the wake of his surprising 1st place showing in the most recent Des Moines Register poll of IA Dem caucus goers. It seems the Edwards folks realize this as an email they sent out today does some boasting of his travels and his fundraising prowess for OTHER candidates. We emphasize OTHER because that's been the one area where some, including us, have questioned when pondering Edwards' future. He doesn't seem to be attempting to build up any warchest.
Edwards partisans contend the '04 VP nominee is simply giving his donors a break, noting that Edwards has been raising money from them non-stop since 2002. These two-years off, they believe, won't hurt them when they come calling for money again in the first part of '07.
Here are some key excerpts from Edwards' One America Email, signed by David Medina
As you know, Senator John Edwards and the One America Committee team have been working tirelessly to help Democrats across the country and to build one America that works for all Americans.Because he feels so strongly about building the Democratic Party from the ground up, Senator Edwards has been crisscrossing the country helping raise money for Democratic candidates and parties, and has attended over 90 fundraisers for Democrats so far. These events have raised more than $6 million to help Democrats win seats at every level of government - Senate, House, governorships and state legislatures.
Earlier this week, Senator Edwards was in Iowa to campaign for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chet Culver and Democratic congressional candidate Bruce Braley.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reported that Senator Edwards struck a real nerve with the crowd when he said:
"America is the richest country in the world, and still 37 million people wake up every day and worry about feeding their children. America needs to be inspired, not for us or even for the Democratic Party, but for the people who don't have a chance without us."
And according to coverage in the Des Moines Register, Senator Edwards didn't mince any words while campaigning for the Democrats:
"He said it would be fiscally irresponsible for Iowans to choose U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle, Culver's Republican opponent, because of the federal budget deficits that have grown during Nussle's watch...Edwards also railed against big oil companies and tax cuts for the rich, and he urged more government help for the needy in calling for new moral leadership in this country."
I think people find it refreshing when they hear national leaders speak their mind in such a forthright way. Iowans have a lot of goodwill for Senator Edwards, based on his own campaign and the campaigning he has done for others there.
In fact, a new Des Moines Register poll shows that Senator Edwards leads the list of potential Democratic presidential candidates in the state.