Edwards Superfecta: Carolina Professor, Iowa’s Offenburger, NYT and Rolling Stone Say Watch Him

East Carolina University professor Peter Francia sees it. Iowa journalist Chuck Offenburger wonders about it. The New York Times’ David Brooks senses it. And Rolling Stone magazine screams it.

A possible John Edwards win in Iowa vaulting the North Carolinian to the Democratic nomination and 2008 general election in which his southern accent (and troubles in Iraq) make swing state voters forget all about John Kerry’s latte moments – the windsurfing and that gnawing sense that the Massachusetts senator exuded an every- woman’s-second-husband vibe.

In Greenville, N.C., Francia, a professor who co-authored an in-depth study on rural voting patterns, says there is a realistic scenario developing for Edwards.

“A lot of people are writing him off at this point – the whole haircut scandal and everything else,” Francia tells Iowa Independent. “Edwards is ahead in Iowa and Iowa starts the whole thing off. He wins in Iowa and to beat Hillary Clinton, you wonder if the Big Mo’ as they call it, might make him appear more credible.”

With Nevada soon after in the early state voting and South Carolina right there in the mix southern-boy Edwards could be well-positioned, Francia says.

“It’s not inconceivable that with a win in Iowa and the backing of some of the unions in Las Vegas that Edwards could do well if not eventually pull an upset,” he says. “He’s still a longshot right now but I think if there were going to be an upset on the Democratic side, I’d keep my eye on John Edwards.”

He adds, “I guess if I were a betting man on the Democratic side it’s hard not to bet on Hillary Clinton based on the poll numbers. But I’ve been reminded and I keep reminding myself that Howard Dean looked unstoppable at one point four years so anything’s possible.”

Veteran Iowa journalist and author Chuck Offenburger, a writer who perhaps understands the culture of rural Iowa, its pulse right down to the last heartbeat, better than anyone, suspects these next few weeks are huge for Edwards.

Offenburger writes the following on his Web site — www.offenburger.com.

It looks and feels to me that if Edwards can't make big gains in Iowa this week, including in the Sunday morning debate, he could begin fading badly, perhaps falling out of the top three on the Democratic side, being replaced by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has been very impressive around Iowa. Clinton, Obama and Richardson can hold themselves up as proven winners. Edwards cannot. On Monday, day one of his Iowa tour, Edwards drew the biggest crowd yet this year for a political event in Jefferson, with about 200 people sitting in the shade of trees on the Greene County Courthouse lawn.

Then today, in The New York Times, columnist David Brooks casts Edwards as a working-class hero who can hop off the bus in small towns in Iowa and connect with farmers and hairstylists, speak their language, seem like one of them, because those are his roots.

To top of the superfecta, this month’s issue of Rolling Stone magazine points out what the Edwards campaign attempts to on the trail: that he’s progressive (with an agenda beyond talking points) and that he can beat Republicans.

Counting Edwards out would be a big mistake. Flying below the radar, the former vice-presidential candidate is pulling off a feat that Democratic consultants have long considered impossible: staking out the most progressive platform among the viable candidates while preserving an aura of electability. In head-to-head polling against the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, Clinton and Obama have managed to post only modest leads. Edwards, by contrast, not only bests every Republican candidate in the race, he trounces them — by an average of twelve points.