Former North Carolina Senator and expected 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards is downplaying his first-place showing in a Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of likely Iowa Caucus-goers. Edwards simply calls it a nice present.
Edwards says Democrats are focused on the elections this November , not 2008. “There is no chance that we’re going to be anything other than aggressive and hardworking,” Edwards says. “George Bush has done such a horrible job as president…The list goes on and on and on. I think Americans know that we’re better than this, we can do better than this.”
Edwards campaigned this afternoon with Chet Culver, the Democratic candidate for governor. During a telephone interview with Radio Iowa, Edwards focused his fire on Culver’s opponent, Republican nominee Jim Nussle.
“Iowans are very concerned about the possibility that Congressman Nussle who presided as chairman of the Budget Committee going from the biggest budget surplus in American history to the biggest budget deficit,” Edwards says. “This does not sound like the kind of guy they want in charge of their budget here in the state of Iowa.”
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack finished fourth in the Register’s Iowa Poll of likely 2008 Caucus-goers. Hillary Clinton was the second choice of those surveyed; John Kerry was third.