politics

EXIRA, IOWA - At Jan's Main Street Salon in Exira, a perfectly fine haircut will set a man back $9.63.

So when Sen. John Edwards, the guy who made news for a $400 haircut a while back, took his presidential campaign to Exira two weeks ago, he asked an old friend to warm up the crowd, which included men in coveralls and baseball caps and a woman in a sweat shirt with dancing teddy bears on it.

"I want to introduce you to someone who resonates with the heart of America, just like 'The Dukes of Hazzard' resonates," said Ben (Cooter) Jones, who played Cooter Davenport on the television series and once was a Georgia congressman. "The reason I like John Edwards is he hasn't for-got who he was.

"He's not gotten above his raisin'."

Call it the Iowa Makeover.

As a group, presidential hopefuls are among the most privileged people in America, but when they descend on Iowa this year, most are trying to find a way to connect with potential voters and tell them, "I'm one of you."

Statistics released recently showed that the nation's income-inequality gap was at its widest, with the richest 1 percent of Americans owning more than 21 percent of the nation's wealth. The Wall Street Journal called that a challenge for presidential candidates.

Even New York Times columnist David Brooks prodded fellow Republicans to reach out to "the working-class dreamer."

Candidates have taken notice. But attempts to country-fry their acts have not always been graceful.

Hillary Rodham Clinton got national attention for showing up at campaign stops in Minnetonka Moccasins she bought in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Barack Obama fretted about the price of arugula at Whole Foods to Iowa farmers, which caused some snickering. Though there are no Whole Foods stores in Iowa, the salad green is grown there and available in Des Moines. The remark caused some to accuse Obama of appealing to the "chardonnay set."

In August, Fred Thompson showed up at the Iowa State Fair and held a baby pig. However a photographer blew his cover when he noticed that Thompson was wearing a pair of pricey Ferragamo loafers.

And at a Des Moines appearance this month, Rudy Giuliani reminisced about going to the John Deere factory as a boy, and used a different spin to convey his message of helping the common man.

"Keep taxes low," he told a mostly college-age crowd at Drake University. "It's a mistake to raise taxes in our economy. It's going to hurt poor people."

Giuliani warned against "overspending, overregulating and overtaxing [Americans]. If you do that, young people don't have a future."

Iowans aren't what they seem

According to Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University, Iowans are not always thrilled with the President Six-Pack routine.

"The truth of the matter is that the Iowa voter is polite and won't react, but they hate the well-rehearsed condescension, the idea that Iowa is some redneck southern state," Schmidt said. "And Iowa is not really that agricultural anymore. So if you are trying to stereotype people like that, they walk away shaking their heads."