Outside the blinding glare of Hillarobama, John Edwards has been quietly building his campaign organization in the early primary and caucus states and amassing a bankroll to remain competitive in the crush of contests early next year. He is in Iowa again this weekend on his 19th trip to the state since early 2005, far more than any of his Democratic rivals. He is investing heavily here in the belief that a victory in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 14, 2008, could make him unstoppable in the dozen or more contests from coast to coast that will quickly follow. The unspoken corollary is that a loss here could spell the end of his try for the White House. “Iowa is important for everybody’s prospects,” Mr. Edwards said Friday in an interview between appearances in Council Bluffs and Sioux City. “It is critical for us.”
Although he has been on the road almost continuously since announcing his candidacy at the end of December, Mr. Edwards, the DemocratsÂ’ vice-presidential nominee in 2004, is not getting nearly the public and news media attention of the two stars in the party, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. That is both a blessing and a curse.
He does not have to deal with scores of reporters at every event and front-page articles detailing his personal finances or his political feuds with rivals. He can skip from town to town in his chartered jet, picking up checks from donors and meeting intimately with small groups of voters. But his current lack of national attention also carries a price: he is in third place in most national polls, his appearances on the evening news are far between and he has to battle for standing in what now appears to some to be a two-person race. “I’m keeping my head down and doing my work,” he said in response to a reporter’s question after an appearance before about 250 people at a center for the elderly in Council Bluffs. In the later interview he added: “This is a long campaign, and there will be ups and downs in the attention everyone gets. My plan is to focus on substance and whatever else needs to be done, including fund-raising.”