Was It Victory?

Did John Edwards win or lose in Iowa? Among his supporters, the answer was unclear. At the campaign's state headquarters at the Renaissance Savery Hotel in downtown Des Moines, supporters were somber as news spread that Barack Obama had won the state's Democratic caucus. The picture changed suddenly when it became clear that Edwards had beaten Hillary Clinton and captured an unlikely second place. Tired volunteers who were slumped in chairs in front of a big screen got up and grabbed drinks from the bar. A group of steelworkers from Pennsylvania milling around the lobby were suddenly waving tiny American flags. A stunned Jean Smart, of "Designing Women" fame, said she was "Honestly, really, very surprised with what happened tonight because I really did think John was going to win." Losing to Obama she said was better than losing to Clinton, but still disappointing. "He hasn't been nearly as specific or brave as John. I think Obama would make a good VP … it's too bad John doesn't have Obama's deep voice, too."

Edwards advisers had few doubts about how to spin the 30 percent of the vote their candidate had won—8 points behind Obama and 1 point ahead of Clinton. Edwards aides Joe Trippi and Jonathan Prince said that since Obama had outspend Edwards $6.5 million to $2.7 million in Iowa, then losing to him by a few percentage points was as good as victory. "We've taken the momentum from him," said Trippi. "Who knows what we could've done if we'd spent like him?"

"Our momentum will overcome his momentum," said Prince.

In 2004, Trippi said, Edwards raised $1 million a day in donations through his Web site after his second-place finish in Iowa. The campaign this time expects to beat that pace. "We'll have plenty of money," said Trippi.

"The loser here is Hillary Clinton," said Trippi. "I don't think anybody expected us to be here tonight. They have written us out for 12 months, this was an Obama-Clinton race. For 12 months we had to listen to that. Well tonight our voice is being heard and it's because the people of Iowa of given us that voice, and we're gonna take it all the way to New Hampshire and keep fighting."

Later, Edwards took the stage at the hotel, and without offering the traditional congratulations to his rivals, one final time hit the populist points he'd been hammering again and again in Iowa. He talked about corporate greed and taking back America for the middle class, told the story of a 17-year-old girl who died because her health-insurance company wouldn't pay for her liver transplant and described a recent visit to a Des Moines homeless shelter and the 75 families they had to turn away. He ended with a flourish of enthusiasm. "And what began tonight, and it is not over, in the heartland of America, is that the Iowa caucus goers said enough is enough, that we are better than this, that we are ready for change and we have created and started a tidal wave of change that will travel from here to New Hampshire, to Nevada, to South Carolina, all across this country …"

© 2008