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With only 13 shopping days left until the Iowa Caucuses, a number of voters were out shopping for the candidate they want to caucus for Jan. 3. This was the case for some of the attendees at former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ campaign rally at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Coralville Saturday.
Kathleen Hession, an Iowa City resident, who recently returned from London where she had just completed a semester abroad, said she just started looking for a candidate. “I’m still undecided, and I have a lot of catching up to do,” Hession told the Iowa Independent after the rally. “One thing I do know is that I’m definitely leaning Democrat. I’m decidedly Democratic.”
Meanwhile, some of the attendees were out window shopping, including Brett Johnson, a recent UI graduate in International Affairs. “I’m supporting Chris Dodd, because I think he has the best platform on foreign policy,” Johnson told the Iowa Independent after the rally. “I came to see Edwards out of curiosity. I’m checking out the big three Democratic candidates (Obama, Edwards, Hillary) to see which one I’ll caucus for, just in case Dodd isn’t viable in my precinct. Edwards is the first one of the big three I’ve had a chance to catch so far.”
Speaking of Edwards, he has clearly shifted gears into rally mode for the final push of the campaign in Iowa. Over 150 people crammed into a long, narrow conference room to hear Edwards speak. Due to inclement weather, Edwards was running late, which only exacerbated the claustrophobic conditions.
Thirty minutes late, Edwards took the stage and preached his populist agenda from the stage’s makeshift pulpit, vowing to stand up and take on the lobbyists and fight for people who are struggling to live the American Dream. “Corporate greed is destroying the middle class, robbing us of jobs, and robbing your children of their future,” Edwards said.
Edwards called upon the audience to take responsibility and fight the powers of corporate greed. “Are we going to stand quietly by and let this happen, or are we going to do something about this?” Edwards asked. “The easiest thing to do is to turn your head and say there is nothing we can do about this. If you’re willing to do that, you better be willing to look your children in the eye and tell them you’re going to leave this mess for them.”
Edwards reminded people that the fight against corporate greed was not going to be easy. “We have an epic fight on our hands. I do not believe you can sit at a table with drug companies and health insurance lobbyists, take their money and make a deal with them,” Edwards argued. “If that worked, we would have had universal health care years ago. They’re not going to voluntarily give their power away. The only way they give their power away is if we take their power away from them.”
Towards the end of his speech, Edwards slipped into full populist mode, rallying the crowd to rise up and take a stand for America. “Every time we speak up for the millions of forgotten people living in the darkness, America rises. Every time we speak up for 47 million people who don’t have health care, every time we speak up and stand up for the 37 million people living in poverty, every time we stand up for the 200,000 homeless veterans who go to sleep every night under bridges, every time we do that, America rises!”
“On a cold night Jan. 3, there is going to be a rising right here in Iowa. You’re going to rise up,” Edwards shouted over the audience’s escalating applause. “You’re going to say enough is enough. We’re going to take back this Democracy, and there is going to be a wave of change right here in Iowa that sweeps across this country. We’re going to build an America that we can believe in, so you can be absolutely certain when you look your children in the eye and tell them we left America better off than we found it.”
Both Johnson and Hession were impressed with Edwards’ speaking skills and ability to get the crowd fired up. “I realized today’s event was more of a rallying cry,” said Johnson. “So I didn’t get a real sense of his specific stances on issues. I have to admit, he did a great job of getting the crowd revved up.”
“I was impressed with Edwards’ ability to rally the crowd with his speaking skills,” Hession said. “I’m not sure whether I’ll support Edwards on caucus night, but it was great to see him getting people excited, and hopefully this will get them to the caucuses. That’s what’s really important.”
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