Edwards Loves His Meat and His Townhalls

Keep this on the downlow. Don't go spreadin' it around to all the campaigns, or running yer mouth to Chris Cillizza. But...I was an Edwards doubter.

There's a lot I'm not putting into these "New Hampshire Project" posts. So much maneuvering and work goes into gaining access to presidential campaigns and then persuading those campaigns into giving me legitimate substance. I've got to be both nice and fair (afterall, what prezzie campaign is going to talk to a blogger from Ohio who just wants to trash their candidate?). Well, one detail I've conveniently excluded from these posts was my prior estimation that the Edwards campaign might be skimping in New Hampshire. Edwards has consistently lead in Iowa Polls and I thought his crew might've been angling for a strong win there, running a skeleton operation in New Hampshire, and moving on to South Carolina or another early state.

One of the benefits of a frontloaded primary schedule is that it's incentive for campaigns to remain in the race through the February 5th "national primary." Even though the narrative is impacted tremendously by NH and Iowa, what's to really persuade a prezzie team to hop out of the race in mid-January like campaigns have in the past when 22 states hold their primaries just a handful of days later? No matter how much money a campaign has - NO ONE will be able to run 22 effective campaigns simultaneously throughout the nation that early in the cycle. Really, it makes it anyone's ballgame. I thought the Edwards campaign might've been overlooking New Hampshire because of that ominous February 5th contest.

Like I am so often, my eyes and ears today showed me I was wrong with my little hypothesis. I tracked John Edwards around lower New Hampshire today. I saw the Senator with an intimate gathering in a bookstore in Derry, to a swarm in a library in Nashua, back to a crowd in Manchester - all townhalls, all-the-while answering granite-staters questions with more candor than I've seen out of any candidate. It was a lot of fun - but it was entirely exhausting.

The first event was at 3:00pm in Derry, while the last event began at 6:15 in Manchester. Of course nothing starts on time, that's one of the elements an advance team plans. Most political events are really scheduled to begin 15 to 20 minutes after the publicized time so the areas are sufficiently packed, people aren't coming in and out during the event, and a crowd is present for the press. The events today fit the norm...Just like the Senator, I was driving faster than I probably should've been to make it from one town to the next. With the perspective of only one day, I can see how this lifestyle has its toll on all candidates. Just think, they've all got over 510 days left of this nonsense, and from what I hear, it gets a lot worse.

Back to John, he packed the crowds in today with well close to 200 folks at the first event, close to 800 at the second, and a packed room at the third. More impressive than the crowds though was Edward's routine for the townhalls. Like most candidates, he has a stump; however, at all the townhalls he only used about 10 minutes apiece for his script before he delved into questions from the audience. This made for an interesting range of topics. As you'd expect, he fielded questions about the immigration debate, Iraq, healthcare and Social Security at most of the forums. However, the totally open nature of the townhalls corraled some topics that we don't get hear about back in Ohio. Edwards affirmed his support for respecting states' rights when states legalize medicinal marijuana; he stated his support for expanding slots in, and funding for, the PeaceCorps; and the Senator fielded questions about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Incredibly, Edwards had never heard of PETA...but he expressed strong contention with any group that wants to prohibit his god given right to eat some tasty animals (you've got to watch the video...).

Overall, John Edwards impressed me. Most exciting was when he was asked the electability question in Derry. Asserting that Edwards' policy proposals are throwbacks to classic liberalism, one woman inquired how he would be able to win the majority of America's "moderate to moderate leaning conservative" voters once the GOP start tar and feathering him with the "L-word." [Aside - At this point I think Dodd is probably the most liberal candidate (who's not laughable) in the race. Aside from 2003, Edwards was traditionally received a modest liberal ranking from the National Journal whereas Dodd was near the top of the scale all throughout the 80's. Also, the woman was wrong in her evaluation of America's ideological slant, but anywhoo.]. Edwards responded with force, declaring that "we're in a time in America's history where small changes will not solve our problems, and that big strong, bold changes are going to be necessary." Furthering that up, "Our party has always been at its best when we were forward leaning, bold, and leading...When we're timid and careful and cautious - we lose." If you've ever questioned what John's about, or his willingness to stand by and defend the Democratic Party, today's question elicited a hard line that showed everyone in the room where he stood. Frankly, it was the type of question you can tell John wants to be asked - he wants to show that this country is clearly ready for a huge change of pace. He's ready to stand on a stage with Guiliani, or Romney, or whoever else the GOPers can throw our way and show why America is ready to embrace the ideals of our party over theirs. And that's why Edwards has been issuing policy like crazy, he's ready for the discussion because he knows we win it if we can explain ourselves.

A final note, Edwards was a lot more relaxed than I've seen other candidates. He didn't shirk from questions or try to redefine them. He was willing to answer and everything. I think this is important, and our other candidates would be well served if they took the lead from the Senator here. I was practically floored when Edwards responded on a question about lifting the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap with the statement he wasn't sure where he was at on the matter. "Say that again" I thought. Then John proceeded to explain the whole payroll tax system to the audience, and why he was torn between two answers to the problem. It was really incredible to hear the candidate explain his thought process and show how and why he's still out to the pasture on an issue. Other candidates should take heed - us voters, we're usually big on honesty. John gets that.