CONCORD, N. H. –Now for Round 2.
John Edwards, America’s newest middleman, is fighting for the middle class.
“I am not the candidate of glitz. I am not the candidate of glamour. I am the candidate of the people’s America,” Edwards preached his gospel to a cheering crowd on his arrival in New Hampshire on Friday.
Edwards finished in the middle of the pack, between leader Barack Obama and finisher Hillary Clinton, in Iowa’s caucuses.
In Manchester, N.H., on Friday, the waiting crowd’s energy was mega-wattage — despite waiting in the dark for hours before Edwards actually appeared. Volunteers led chants while waiting for the candidate to arrive. A particular crowd pleaser was a small girl named Fiona, who led her own chant of “E-D-W-A-R-DS!”
His wife Elizabeth and daughter Kate introduced Edwards, who was complete with his boyish charm and requisite solid blue tie. The rally was in full swing.
Edwards also touched on some of the major issues like healthcare and the war in Iraq, but remained steady in his commitment to the middle class.
‘We have millions who are terrified, living in the middle class, working hard, doing what they are supposed to do and being responsible. And worrying about what tomorrow is going to bring,” Edwards said.
Before he left, Edwards picked up little Fiona and smiled for the cameras.
Retail politics have begun.
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Perhaps presidential candidates, much like a fine wine, are best when matured.
“I have been tested and I have proven. I have been through the fires,” Hillary Clinton reminded the subdued crowd in Nashua, N.H., Friday.
Despite a less than favorable outcome in Iowa last night, Clinton commanded the stage like the seasoned professional she would like us to remember she is. She briskly answered questions with ready ease. She offered proposals with plenty of convincing detail. And she showed a streak of humor.
“Out of all the people running for president I’ve been the most vetted and most investigated. And my goodness, the most innocent, it turns out,” joked Hillary.
The Clinton rally, much like Edwards’, became a family affair. While on stage with their daughter Chelsea, Bill Clinton simultaneously declared his admiration for New Hampshire and his wife.
“I was never been more proud of Hillary, in all the days we’ve been together and all the days of this campaign, than when she gave that speech in Iowa last night,” he told the crowd. “Ladies and gentleman, New Hampshire is going to get the chance to prove that you are the first primary.”
When Hillary finally walked onto the stage, she remained there for almost an hour answering inquiries from the audience.
Perhaps the highlight of the rally, turned Q&A, was when Clinton took a moment to reflect on the past decade.
“I find it amusing that it took a Clinton to clean up after the first George Bush,” she quipped. “And it will take the next Clinton to clean up after the second.”
***
The leader of the pack.
Fresh from his victory in the Iowa caucuses, Barack Obama hit the New Hampshire ground running Friday.
“How many of you are undecided?” Obama asked his audience as soon as he took the stage. When half of the room raised their hands, he turned to a volunteer. “We’ve got a lot of live ones here.”
One of those was Dorothy Chicaderis of Concord. She came, she said, hoping to be inspired. “I haven’t made up my mind yet, but I’m leaning towards him now. More so after the speech,” said Chicaderis.
Obama spanned the globe in issues: stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS, ending genocide in Darfur, and closing Guantanamo Bay.
He struck a chord with Ana Orke, a college student as well as an undecided. “I like Hillary Clinton and I also like Barack Obama. But seeing him here today, he’s a very moving speaker,” Orke added. “I think our country is really a mess right now, and he seems like someone who could get us out.”
Change through hope is how Obama promises to move he country forward.
“If you will stand with me, if you will vote for me,” he told the crowd. “Then choose hope over fear in four days time.”
(Larissa Padden, a magazine-newspaper-online graduate student, is covering the New Hampshire primary for the Utica Observer-Dispatch.)
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