In Iowa Run-Up, Edwards Uses Fighting Words
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INTO THE RING
In Iowa Run-Up, Edwards Uses Fighting Words
DES MOINES -- For the final days in the Iowa contest, John Edwards has shed his blue jeans and open-collar shirt and put on a suit and tie -- and a pair of brass knuckles.
Often the forgotten man in Iowa's three-way Democratic battle, Edwards is on the move. Independent analysts see his support firming up. Advisers to both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama believe he might win the caucuses on Thursday -- though their views should be discounted somewhat because both would rather see Edwards win if they don't.
Four years ago, Edwards closed out Iowa in a rush. Had the campaign lasted a few more days, he might have won, and his second-place finish was almost as surprising as John Kerry's victory.
Nobody in the race here understands the rhythms of campaigns better than Edwards, and nobody is more ruthlessly focused on closing the deal than the former senator. This time he's trying to make it all the way, knowing that he cannot afford to lose Thursday night.
But it is his message that is most remarkable. No thought here of finishing on a sunny and positive note, as he did four years ago. His "America Rising" theme is not a variation of "Morning in America."
It is a call to arms that is raw and angry, populist and pugnacious. It is a message that is as exhausting as it is confrontational. It is a message that makes Al Gore's "people versus the powerful" seem timid by comparison.
One Edwards supporter, departing after a big rally in Des Moines on Saturday night, said he hasn't heard a message as passionate or strong since Bobby Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign.
Nice clothes aside, Edwards has turned street fighter for the final stretch. His message can be boiled down to a single word -- "Fight!" -- which he repeats over and over and over and over again: "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Edwards has rolled out anecdotes he has never used to make it more personal. They conjure images that hardly square with his slight frame and good looks. He was, as he now explains, a brawler as a kid, taking on bullies the way he later took on corporations and insurance companies as a trial lawyer.
"Like many of you, I had to fight to survive," he told an audience of nearly 1,000 people on Saturday night. "I mean really. Literally."
He describes the Southern mill town where he grew up as a tough little place and tells the story of getting into a fight one day with an older boy. "Got my butt kicked," he said. When he got home, his father offered a stern lesson in life.
