Edwards: Sharpening Critiques In Iowa
According to this Washington Post story from November 5, 2007:
If you're trying to take down your opponents while remaining polite, you might sound like John Edwards did as he stumped through Eastern Iowa on Sunday.
"There's a proposed trade deal on Peru, which I'm opposed to. .. I have to tell you, I think Senator Obama is for it, but at least he's taken a position. Senator Clinton I don't think has taken a position," Edwards said.
...Welcome to the last two months before the Iowa caucuses, where with little time left before the voting, the candidates are not only campaigning more intensely than ever-- Clinton and Edwards spent their weekends in the Hawkeye state -- but they're actually critiquing their opponents by name. And they're making their closing arguments about what polls and their own words suggest Iowa voters want more than anything else: change.
"Part of our challenge over the next two months is to make that more and more clear," said Edwards's deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince of the candidate's themes and how Edwards can convince voters his ideas for overhauling the system are more important than Clinton's proposals.
Of course, Clinton may have provided a small opening. Carol Herman, a retired woman in Waverly, Iowa, where Edwards spoke, said she was deciding between Obama, Edwards and Clinton and was now leaning against Clinton because "she was vacillating back and forth" at the debate, which contrasted with the "straightforward" Edwards. Of course, Herman lives in Iowa, so she can base her decision on more than just a nationally televised debate: Clinton is due in Waverly today.