Zogby: John Edwards Leads in Iowa

Nationally, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton continue to do well in the polls but in the state polls of early contests in the primaries, John Edwards is holding his own. Here's the story from of MyDD showing Edwards with 27%, Obama 17%, and both Vilsack and Clinton tied at 16%.

Edwards could be benefitting from the last time around or some of the results could be a product of organizing which is a useful ability for a presidential candidate to have.

Here's an opinion piece in the Free Speech Zone of The Crimson White Online by graduate student J. J. DaSilva:

During the winter break former, North Carolina senator and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards announced his bid for president. I had been hoping that he would. I generally vote for Democrats, and the others just don't fit my values as well as he does.

The Republican options are just out of the question. After assessing the damage extremist conservatives have done, I am convinced that in 2008 only a Democrat can clean up the mess and start making some progress.

The first reason I support Edwards is that I identify with him. He went to public schools and universities. I support public schools, and I think that communities have an obligation to pool their resources to maintain them.

Edwards comes from a working class, blue collar background, which is the same stock that I come from. His father was a mill worker in the Carolinas, and he was the first in his family to graduate from college, and so was I.

This sets an example for people who are trying to better themselves. This is what Americans need in times when jobs are uncertain, outsourcing is unchecked and when education costs are so high. America needs a guy like Edwards to help alleviate these issues.

I appreciate what DaSilva is saying though I would point out that some of our best presidents weren't much like the rest of us. Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy come to mind and they were superb presidents. But, by and large, DaSilva is right that John Edwards seems to get it, and, unlike some Republicans, he remembers where he came from.