Iowa Caucus Addictive, Elizabeth Edwards Says

On Saturday Elizabeth Edwards dropped by the Democratic State Central Committee meeting in Des Moines to thank Iowa Democrats for their hard work and attention to the issues.

“We want to applaud you for all the the work you do because it is important for us,” Edwards said. “The work you do is particularly important to the Edwards campaign because you help people find ways to be informed.”

In addition to patting local activists on the back, she provided an update on the status of the campaign in Iowa.

“It helps to have been here before and it helps to know the process,” Edwards said. “You don’t spend time dancing around in Iowa. This is an organization state. I’m really pleased that John has 99 county chairs in addition to 99 rural county chairs. I’m not sure of the exact numbers on caucus chairs, but I know that we are doing well there as well.”

The Edwards Campaign, she says, is working to bring currently uninvolved citizens to the process.

“We are reaching out to people who haven’t been previously involved with the caucuses for our campaign and also in hopes of helping the Democratic Party overall,” Edwards told the roughly 60 committee members, party leadership and guests who had gathered for the public portion of the meeting. “We are certainly doing our best to get people engaged in the process. The caucus system… I see it as a narcotic: once you’re hooked, you’re hooked.”

Believing that turnout to caucus sites and polling places is going to be key in this election, Edwards says she personally plans to do what she can to get more women involved.

“I want to do ‘ironing board’ registrations,” she said. “We need women to take ironing boards out in front of some of these big box stores or laundromats or wherever we need to go to get people registered to vote. Because, honestly, the people who aren’t voting are probably the people most affected by the decisions of those elected.”

Following urging from Chris Petersen, president of Iowa Farmers Union, for her husband and all the presidential candidates to keep rural issues at the forefront during this election, Edwards responded that she believed her husband is the only candidate who can successfully compete in rural America.

“Of the 18 or 19 candidates that are out there, you have one candidate who has a rural policy and that is John,” Edwards said. “I also believe that he is the best candidate when it comes to making the case in rural America because that’s the part of the world he came from. These are issues he has thought about which is why he has the policy and these are issues on which he is a very good messenger.”

In rural areas, she says, many voters don’t go on party lines, but support candidates who talk about their issues, understand their issues and “really get it.”

“This race is not going to be a nameless Democrat against a nameless Republican,” she said. “It’s going to be someone with a face and a way of talking about things against a Republican who also has a story.”

Former Sen. John Edwards will return to Iowa this Wednesday when he is scheduled to ride a portion of the RAGBRAI route with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.