Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
[Commentary] Will John Edwards be the John Kerry of 2008? It’s probably not a question the Edwards campaign wants to hear, considering Kerry lost in his race for the presidency. Then again, he did win Iowa. And he won it on that most amorphous of issues: “electability."
It’s an intoxicating claim for Democrats across the country, especially in Iowa, where people have a lot of sway in choosing the nominee. Four years ago, many Iowans—myself included—believed that Kerry had the best chance of beating George W. Bush in a general election, and that is almost certainly why he won the Iowa Caucuses. Sure, we liked his stances on most issues and he seemed like he would make a good president, but in the fevered atmosphere of ABB (Anybody But Bush), we chose him because we thought he could win. Later we would learn that his greatest strength, his biography and military service, would be turned into one of his greatest weaknesses a la Swift Boats, and that, gosh, he really didn’t know how to talk about the Iraq War. But at the time, we were oblivious. Now, after two terms of Dubya, Democrats may be even more likely to want to reclaim the White House. If a candidate can convince voters that he is the most electable, there is a good chance he will win Iowa and, with it, the nomination. John Edwards, it seems, is trying to do just that.
Douglas Burns reported on Iowa Independent that at a campaign event, Edwards said:
"It's not just a question of who you like. It's not just a question of whose vision you are impressed with. It's also a question of who is most likely to win the general election. It's a pretty simple thing. Who will be a stronger candidate in the general election here in the state of Iowa? Who can go to other parts of the country when we have swing candidates running for the Congress and the Senate? Is the candidate going to have to say, 'Don't come here. Don't come here and campaign with me. I can't win if you campaign with me.'" He added later, "I think it's just a reality that I can campaign anyplace in America."
Though Edwards later told Burns he did not mean that he believed some Americans wouldn’t vote for Barack Obama because he is black or for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman, it is hard not to take that as his meaning—especially because he and his aides have increasingly begun to imply that.
In a recent Men’s Vogue profile, Edwards made the claim that he—perhaps unlike other candidates—would be able to perform in the South in a general election. From the magazine:
“‘Oh, I'll win more than one Southern state,’ he tells me. ‘I will win more than one Southern state. You remember we had this conversation.’ According to [Edwards aide] Mudcat Saunders, the campaign isn't just aiming at poor rural whites in the South—but at poor rural whites across the country. "There's not a 50-cent difference in Bubba in Buncombe County, North Carolina, and Iowa or New Hampshire or wherever else…" There's also a largely unspoken asset to Edwards's candidacy, though it has gotten some play on the cable-news shows. In a general election, he has in his favor the simple fact that he is the white male Democrat—a safe alternative to any reservations that America—South, North, East, West—might have about a black man or a woman as president.”
In a related interview, Saunders said, “The reason I work with Edwards is ‘cause he can get through the culture. He understands it, he can talk it.” Throughout the interview, Saunders repeats his belief that Edwards can connect to rural Americans and their culture but does not seem able to fully explain what that culture is as the interviewer repeatedly asks Saunders to clarify his meaning.
This strategy may be somewhat of a gamble. While it’s in every candidate’s interest to seem most electable or most likely to win the general election, attacking other candidates could turn off voters. Four years ago, Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt tore each other apart in the run-up to the Iowa Caucuses, allowing Kerry—and Edwards—to slide in for first and second place. Additionally, Edwards could face a backlash among Democrats for criticizing the Obama and Clinton candidacies on sensitive issues like race and gender. How Edwards walks this fine line between arguing for his electability and staying above the fray will likely determine how he does in Iowa and in the race for the nomination.
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