Edwards, Obama vie: same towns, same voters

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WATERLOO, Iowa - Vote for John Edwards or Barack Obama? Obama or Edwards?

The two rivals crisscrossed eastern Iowa this weekend, courting many of the same voters, often following each other to the same cities and towns.

At one point on Friday Edwards started speaking at a steakhouse in the town of Manchester 40 minutes before Obama started his pitch to another crowd two miles away at the community center.

Some in the Edwards crowd left his event early so they could go see Obama and do some comparison shopping.

With time running out before the first-in-the-nation Jan. 3 caucuses in this state, Edwards is sharpening his case against Obama.

When a Democrat in Manchester asked Edwards why he should vote for him rather than Obama, Edwards answered: “We have a very different approach in the way we deal with special interests.”

“I’m not being critical,” he insisted, but then explained that Obama “talks about bringing people together… he talks about bringing drug companies, oil companies, insurance companies, etc. to the table and working with them and negotiating a compromise. I just think that will never work.”

'You need a fighter'
He added, “This is a tough fight — and you need a fighter as president. You need somebody who is ready for this battle and I’ve been fighting these people my whole life and winning my whole life.”

Earlier Edwards had told the crowd, “It’s not enough to be nice… You can’t charm them away” — “them” being the corporate interests and lobbyists that he rails against in every speech.

The implication was: the mellow and charming Obama isn’t tough enough, is not a fighter.

At his Iowa stops, Obama draws more novices and a few self-described Republicans; Edwards draws on a loyal core of traditional Democrats who backed him four years ago in the caucuses, or wish that they had.

“He’s a person who can go into any district anywhere across the nation and win,” contended Edwards supporter Mike McMahon in Manchester. McMahon argues that the Democrats would have beaten President Bush in 2004 if Edwards had been at the top of the ticket, rather than the vice presidential candidate.

“Edwards has already run in a red state and won. He could go into any red state or red district and put his arm around a congressional candidate. We need more than a win, we need a mandate if we want change on health care and Iraq and all these other issues,” he added.

Bud Pratte, a dentist from Waterville, went to the small town of Elkader Friday night to hear Edwards speak. Pratte, who backed Edwards four years ago, called himself “totally committed” to him. “He doesn’t have the negatives that Clinton and Obama would have.”

Obama's negatives
What are Obama’s negatives? “I don’t see the sincerity; I don’t think he speaks with enough experience really…. I don’t think he’s ready yet,” Pratte said. He suggested Obama might be “a good vice presidential candidate for John.”

Some Obama supporters say Edwards is their second choice.

And this could turn out to be crucial in deciding the winner here: under Democratic caucus rules, if a candidate fails to attain 15 percent backing in a precinct, his supporters must shift to another candidate if they want their presence on caucus night to count.

One Obama fan who said Edwards is her second choice is Tina Vondran of Monticello, a town of 3,728, where Obama spoke Friday.

Picking the president: The candidates Click to visit that candidate's MSNBC page or click the XML symbol for an RSS feed. John McCain                Barack Obama

Vondran’s husband is the manager of an injection molding plastic manufacturing company in Monticello, so during the question-and-answer period she asked Obama about the threat of jobs being lost because U.S. corporations prefer cheap suppliers in China rather firms like her husband’s.

Vondran is new to caucus politics: she sometimes refers to Obama as “Sen. Baracka” and said for the first time in her life she is attending candidate events and thinking of participating in the caucuses.

“Each time I’ve seen him, I’ve been a little bit more impressed,” she said after seeing Obama Friday in Monticello.

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