Tuesday: Edwards brings campaign hopes to Minnesota

Batting 0-for-4 in the Democratic presidential race, John Edwards brought his struggling campaign to Minnesota on Tuesday, hoping to bolster his performance in next week's precinct caucuses.

The former North Carolina senator, coming off a third-place showing in the South Carolina primary, which he won four years ago, came to a union hall in St. Paul to make his case.

"We have such important work to do in this country," he told hundreds of raucous supporters at the Carpenters Union Hall. "I think we've had enough of a president kowtowing to big money and the big corporations."

Invoking the memory and "the guts" of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, Edwards said, "We need a president with the guts to stand up for you."

In an interview, Edwards, who has lagged far behind front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, repeated his frustration that the news media have endlessly harped on his troubles.

"This is just nonsense," he said. "My only problem is getting heard with these celebrity candidates."

When news broke Tuesday that Edwards had canceled appearances he'd planned for today in Fargo and Alabama to give a speech on poverty in New Orleans, it was accompanied by speculation he would soon quit the race.

"I'm going to New Orleans because economic inequality has been the focus of my campaign," he said. "It's clearly rising to the top as an issue. If people hear me on this, they respond."

As for quitting the race, "I want to be the nominee and I want to be president," Edwards said. "I want to do the work of the people and save the middle class."

Inspiring fierce support

Union members at the rally cheered enthusiastically and expressed a fierce belief in Edwards' message and a solid faith that his candidacy can prevail.

"He's the only one for working people, same as he was four years ago," said Steve Kling, a carpenter from Lindstrom. "It's the national media that doesn't want him in this. But here in Minnesota he's got a chance."

Duane Butorac, a Teamster from Eagan, said Edwards "not only talks about doing something for working families, but he really stands behind them.

"Just because they say he can't win, remember they said that about Jesse [Ventura]," Butorac said. "He could be a real dark horse. The party's got to deal with his strong message."

At Tuesday's DFL caucuses, usually dominated by a few thousand party activists and union members, labor support could be key, said Ted Mondale, Edwards' campaign coordinator in the state. Plus, he said, the campaign's phone banks have identified about 10,000 supporters.

Minnesota won't award anywhere near as many delegates that night as California, New York and New Jersey, but the state's 72 delegates are the seventh biggest prize among the 21 other states that will be voting on the biggest primary day in history.

In for the long haul?

Nationally, Edwards has been mired in the polls, far behind both Obama and Clinton, his support averaging about 14 percent in recent polls.

None of that has deterred his campaign strategists from spinning his position as one of hidden strength rather than weakness, and Edwards himself has repeatedly said he's in the campaign for the long haul.

Despite having not yet won a single contest, Edwards has been racking up delegates to the Democratic National Convention, 26 to date -- again, far behind Clinton and Obama.

The more delegates he captures, the harder it will be for either front-runner to capture a clear majority of the convention's 4,049 delegates, "and then you're in brokered convention land," said deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince.

And even if he lacks enough support to capture the Democratic nomination, Edwards could become a power broker at the convention, possibly handing his support to Clinton or Obama.

Daschle stumps for Obama

Edwards' campaign wasn't the only one busy in Minnesota. Obama's campaign dispatched former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, one of the Illinois senator's earliest big boosters, to the state.

Daschle said Sen. Edward Kennedy's endorsement of Obama Monday "has profound consequences for Barack Obama and for our party, frankly. I think Ted Kennedy says something about the [party] establishment, about the base."

The endorsement, along with internal Democratic sniping about former President Bill Clinton's performance on the campaign trail, has led to widespread speculation that "Clinton fatigue" is gripping the party.

"I think that there is some fatigue," Daschle said. "Any of us who've been around politics as long as we have, we've taken a lot of battles that stay with us ... It's a great asset he doesn't have to fight the old fights because he wasn't there to fight them."

Bob von Sternberg • 612-673-7184