DVD Intended to Highlight Edwards’ Down-Home Roots, His Rural Strategist Says

[Commentary] In an Iowa Independent commentary last week I wrote that John Edwards' new rural DVD is about as hokey as a possum wearin' bib overalls.

That provoked a response from Edwards rural strategist Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, who plays a prominent role in the video. In a telephone interview Wednesday, Saunders explained that the main point of the video is to highlight Edwards' roots as a small town boy who grew up in a place not unlike rural Iowa.

"You gotta know, everybody on there is passionate about rural America," said Saunders. "Me, Cooter, Wallace and Bobbie, we're passionate about the plight of our people. And the intention of it was that we wanted to show John's roots. We wanted to show where he came from, because an acorn don't fall far from a tree."Saunders said former Congressman and "Dukes of Hazzard" actor Ben "Cooter" Jones and Edwards' parents, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, can make the case that Edwards understands and respects the rural culture unlike any of the other Democratic presidential candidates.

"The DVD is a message to rural Iowans about John's roots — from the people who know John the best — on who he is and where he came from," said Saunders.

And it's a message that Edwards' plan for rural America would bring sweeping change to small-town economies. "We want everybody to know that John is going to fight these guys that have made our lives miserable. There's not any question that this is the most comprehensive rural recovery plan since FDR's New Deal. I don't think there's any question about that," he said.

"With rural voters being so pivotal in this election, we wanted to reach out to rural Iowa and tell them who John is. Who he really is. And I think we were successful," said Saunders. "I mean, I think Wallace and Bobbie told the story of John and his roots perfectly and showed he does understand the culture."

And that bluegrass music in the video that sounds so much like the soundtrack from "O Brother Where Art Thou?" Well, there's a good reason for that. Saunders said the music on the video was actually performed by his "neighbors," the Stanley Family. The Stanley Family are bluegrass legends who also performed on that wildly successful movie soundtrack. "That music is John's roots," said Saunders. "And you know, Dr. Ralph Stanley, he was the original Man of Constant Sorrow."

Saunders said the video is also about pushing a rural agenda for the Democratic Party. Democrats need to address two major problems in order to win the White House, he said. Most importantly, it's simply "understanding the power of the rural culture and the power of the rural independent way of thinking."

Secondly, he said, "I think the Democrats have had a problem in that they can't count. We need rural America to win national elections. But nobody in the national media wants to talk about it. Rural people, in the South and the Midwest and the West, we're all the same kind of people. But we all gotta start hollerin' a little louder," said Saunders. "And John can get through to that culture. People connect with him."

There's one other item on which Saunders wanted to set the record straight: the hat he's wearing in the video is not a Chicago Cubs hat, or an Iowa Cubs hat. "The 'C' is not for the Cubs," he said. "Stephen Colbert gave me that hat, so the 'C' is for Colbert."

I still think the DVD is hokey. But the Edwards campaign does deserve credit for recognizing the value of the rural vote in Iowa and across America.