Here you go Edwards supporters: A great story about Edwards' surge

[cali]

with real info and analysis.

A Real Edwards Surge
19 Dec 2007 08:00 am

Is John Edwards's surge a media-created phenomenon, a collective reaction formation to the media's desire to see a three-person race, or guilt for building up Barack Obama? Does the media really have that power?

Or are we seeing something more organic?

On Monday, the Edwards campaign recorded more e-mail sign-ups than almost any day in its history.

Over the weekend, the campaign was forced to add four new servers to handle all the web traffic.

Contributions are up online: Thursday and Friday, the two days after the debate, made for one of the highest 2-day totals they've seen in months. (He's been ubiquitous on national television -- morning shows and Sunday shows.)

Those are national totals.

What about Iowa? There are two metrics, one of which we don't have available: their hard count of confirmed caucus goers. The other is crowds.

Not only has Edwards been greeted by unusually large crowds for him, he is outdrawing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton head-to-head. In Des Moines Monday, Edwards drew 400 to Hillary Clinton's 200; in Mason City on Saturday night, Edwards drew 600 to Obama's roughly 300.

The campaign tracks undecided caucus goers through nightly rounds of phone banking: the Edwards folks claim they're hearing more about their campaign's unique holiday card than they are about HRC's Des Moines Register endorsement. (Note: HRC and Edwards's universes don't overlap too much, so it's not that surprising.)

Still -- at almost every event in recent days, Edwards has gotten standing ovations. At the end.

I've been to dozens of Edwards events since the beginning of the cycle, and I've seen such enthusiasm for him only a few times.

The Edwards campaign is not conducting nightly tracking polls, so advisers can't pinpoint
day-to-day movement.

Democrats with access to the internal polling data of some of Edwards's presidential rivals say that he may be winning back male voters he lost to Barack Obama and is consolidating his strength with the union electorate in Iowa.

<snip>

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/12/a_real_edwards_surge.php

[Happyhippychick]

1. You know what's really weird?

My aunt and several of my friends told me on Monday that they had decided to support Edwards (they were all Obama supporters). I am supporting Obama but would be very happy with Edwards (or Biden) so I'm not hugely loyal. My personal experience is mirroring what this story is saying.

[K Gardner]

6. Thanks for posting this ! Always good to hear from people, not pollsters :-)

[mtnsnake]

2. I think right now Edwards is just playing the game better than the other two are

It's almost as if he planned the Obama/Hillary feudfest just to free himself up for promoting his platform. He got the personal attacks out of the way early, and now he can concentrate on himself, while the other two duke it out between them.

Obama will be in shock if Edwards bumps him for the number one spot in Iowa when the dust has settled.

[cali]

3. I think there's more deeply rooted support for Edwards than for

the other two, and I think it's viral. Edwards supporters are not going to drift off to other candidates.

[cali]

4. kick

[K Gardner]

5. I think this is spot on. We're also getting ready to see a plethora of articles

(as well as posts here on DU) about how Edwards is slipping and his numbers are dropping. I'd hope everyone takes this all with a grain of salt and will see it for what it is. Trust your gut. The MSM doesn't want to see what they're seeing, just like they still won't admit that Gore won the 2000 election.

[Raster]

7. I think you're right. Edwards is NOT the corporate candidate.

And in my mind Edwards has something unique that none of the others have: a first-hand knowledge about having something you won fair and square stolen from you. HRC was NEVER even a choice for me. Obama's flirtation with the homophobes killed that one for me.

[cali]

8. This is a very good article

and points to something I think is extremely valuble in Iowa; Edwards support is not wobbly. And the enthusiasm he's generating is growing. That information is more important than these goofy polls.

[Infinite Hope]

9. K&R The Good News! n/t