Yepsen Outlines Edwards' Strengths in Iowa

Last Thursday, the Des Moines Register's David Yepsen wrote about John Edwards' strengths in Iowa. Yepsen writes that Edwards has been a fixture in Iowa's rural counties...

He spends more time in Iowa than his rivals. (His wife jokes that if someone asked the couple for directions in Iowa, they could provide them.)

While Obama and Clinton have only recently discovered the fact that 49 percent of Iowa's Democratic caucus-goers live in rural and small-town Iowa, Edwards has been mining those tiny lodes for years.

Edwards uses his background of growing up in a small town to connect with voters in rural areas and Yepsen sees this as one of Edwards' biggest strengths...

Perhaps the best argument for Edwards' candidacy is his potential for electability. While Clinton and Obama make the case they could attract new voters, like women and minorities, in a general-election fight the case for Edwards is that he's not as risky. He doesn't have the polarizing negatives Clinton has and is a more seasoned candidate than Obama, though some of his positions smack of class war. His campaign believes he would help congressional Democratic candidates.

Edwards has argued he could attract votes just about anywhere in the country. And as y'all know, Democrats historically don't win the White House without a Southerner on the ticket.