Edwards Caps Intense Push in Iowa
Sun Aug 15,10:05 PM ET
story.news.yahoo.com
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa - Capping an intense 10-day competition for Iowa's
seven electoral votes, Democratic vice presidential nominee John
Edwards accused the Bush administration on Sunday
of being captured by drug and insurance interests at the expense of
working families.
Edwards said Bush has blocked efforts to
lower prescriptions drug costs and
strengthen the rights of patients, both
moves he said are backed by most voters
but opposed by special interests.
"It's just good old common sense, but it's
being stopped by this administration and
why? Because the drug companies don't
want it, it's just about that simple," said
Edwards. "It seems to me that we need a
president and a vice president who is on the
side of most Americans instead of being on
the side of drug companies, when that
conflict exists."
Edwards held "front porch" meetings where
he listened to stories of working families
who have suffered at the hands of the health
care system, arguing that he and
presidential nominee John Kerry (news -
web sites) offer the best chance to reform a
health care system that is a burden to
millions of Americans.
Bush spokesman Brian Jones dismissed
the attack, saying Kerry and Edwards are
both prone to shifting positions and can't be
trusted.
"Both Kerry and Edwards voted to send
troops into harm's way and then voted
against the funds to support troops in Iraq
(news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news -
web sites) with supplies like body armor and
ammunition," said Jones.
Edwards appearances in Des Moines and
Waterloo were the latest in a closely
contested race for the Iowa's electoral votes, a battle that underscores
the tightness of this year's race for the Whit4 House.
In the last 10 days, President Bush (news - web sites) has campaigned
in the state twice, once just three blocks from where Kerry was
campaigning. Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) stumped
in the state, followed closely by first lady Laura Bush. The state went
Democratic in 2000, but by barely 4,000 votes and both campaigns have
targeted the state for campaign commercials and heavy attention from
candidates.
"The best we can tell right now is it looks like a dead-even race," said
Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford.
In addition to campaign swings and flooding the airwaves with
commercials, both campaigns are putting in place big organizational
efforts to turn out voters. Kerry and Edwards may have an edge in that
competition because both campaigned virtually nonstop in Iowa for most
of 2003 in the race for Iowa's leadoff caucuses.
"Lord only knows how many times I've been in Des Moines," Edwards
joked on Sunday. "We know these places like the back of our hand.
John Kerry and I basically lived here for a year and a half." |
