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Posted: January 3, 2008 8:50 PM
After Nearly Continuous Campaign, Edwards Faces Critical Test
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Four years ago, then-Sen. John Edwards scored an unexpected second-place finish in Iowa, a result the helped lead to his vice presidential nomination. Now, the North Carolina Democrat returns to Iowa hoping to springboard onto the top of the ticket.

Where his first campaign was marked by a call to address the “two Americas” — one poor and one rich, this time around Edwards sharpened his message, attacking what he called a corrupt corporate culture that has infected both the nation and, in particular, Washington politics.

“[I]f you join me tonight, we will change this country. And the folks in Washington and on Wall Street will hear you loud and clear. They will know that their grip on power and money is coming loose,” Edwards wrote in a last-minute appeal to Iowa voters. “They will know that America is rising. And they will know that we’re coming to take our country back.”

But headed into the caucuses a survey done by the Associated Press and several television networks cautioned that Edwards appeared to be trailing both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama among a sampling of voters who showed up at the nearly 1,800 caucus sites.

Should those early numbers hold, which would be a dangerous bet to make in the confusing world of the Democratic caucuses, the Edwards campaign could be in serious trouble.

“John Edwards has invested everything in Iowa,” David Brooks said ahead of the caucus. “If he comes in third he is in real trouble.”

But as numbers trickle in (with 7 percent of the caucuses reporting, Edwards actually led with 36 percent, compared with 30 percent for both Clinton and Obama) the future of the Democratic field, and Edwards populist campaign, remained anything but clear.