Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is suggesting he’s going with his "gut" as the Iowa Caucus campaign winds down. Edwards, who finished second in the 2004 Iowa Caucuses, talked about the 2008 campaign this morning during taping of an Iowa Public Television program.
"I can tell you, having been through this, I know what you have to do. I know what you have to do to close. What Iowa Caucus-goers are looking for — they’re not looking for academic and they’re not looking for analytical. They’re looking for somebody who speaks from right here, from their gut," Edwards said, gesturing to his mid-section, "and who believes deeply and passionately in what they’re talking about."
Edwards said he is "locked in" on that kind of a message as he heads into January 3rd. According to Edwards, his two main rivals — Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton — are engaged in "sniping."
"At least from my perspective I think what Iowa Caucus-goers are looking for is not petty, personal fighting between politicians," Edwards said. "They’re looking for somebody who’s actually willing to take on some of the corporate power and corporate greed that’s standing between them and the country they believe in."
Edwards said on the IPTV program that the future beyond Iowa’s Caucuses is "unknowable" for him and the other two top three Democrats in the presidential race.
Edwards does not accept campaign contributions from political action committees, yet groups like the Service Employees Union that’re backing Edwards are running pro-Edwards ads in Iowa. "What other groups do by law I have no control over. I can’t tell ’em what to do or what not to do," Edwards said during a news conference this morning. "…It’s one of the problems with the law but it is the law and we’re required by law to stay out of it."
Some of the independent groups spending top dollar to run ads in Iowa on Edwards’ behalf are being advised by people who used to work on the Edwards campaign.