Edwards Drops In on His Neighbors for Support

Sen. John Edwards stood in the nondescript community room of the Margaret H. Miller Cosmetology Center here the other day surrounded by his people -- loyal Southern Democrats, black and white, their jackets and blouses decorated with round blue stickers promoting the neighbor from North Carolina as their choice for president.

In a soft Southern drawl that felt at home among the 250 people attending the Voter Education Project meeting, Edwards talked about the need to unite a nation divided by class and -- in this state where the Confederate flag still flies outside the pre-Civil War Capitol -- by race. He also talked about the need to provide health care to children, and to help the middle class deal with a shifting economy that has eroded a way of life.

“I like his issues,” said Velma Pruitt, a 49-year-old speech therapist who, as an African American voter, could represent Edwards’ best hope here. “Regardless of where he goes, he’s singing the same song. He seems to be a very sincere man.”

Then she added, leaning in close: “He reminds me of JFK.”

After a surprisingly strong second-place finish in Iowa, Edwards has been spending most of the week crossing the paths of the other main Democratic contenders in frigid New Hampshire, where aides hope he’ll place at least third in Tuesday’s primary.

But Friday’s trip to the capital of South Carolina was the second Southern run in three days for the candidate, underscoring how important this state is to his hopes of winning the Democratic nomination.

Edwards’ strategy from the beginning has been to place high enough in Iowa and New Hampshire so he can go into the Feb. 3 primaries as a formidable challenger to whoever emerges as the frontrunner. Early on, that frontrunner was former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

Now, after Dean’s collapse in Iowa and his faltering campaign in New Hampshire, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts has emerged as the guy to catch, and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark of Arkansas, as a candidate to watch.

Edwards believes that winning in South Carolina and doing well in Oklahoma, Missouri and New Mexico will propel him into the next round of primaries as the field begins to narrow. But failing to top the list of Democrats in his native South Carolina would not only be embarrassing, it could be politically fatal.

For weeks Edwards has trumpeted his Southern roots as a key strength -- it is generally believed that to win the White House, Democrats must win some states in the South.

“The South is not George Bush’s backyard,” Edwards said Friday to a cheering audience. “It is my backyard, and I will beat George Bush in my backyard.”

But first Edwards has to get the nomination. And to win here Feb. 3, he needs to forge the kind of coalition of black and white voters that sent him to the Senate five years ago, said Merle Black, a politics professor at Atlanta’s Emory University.

The wild card will be the Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist from New York who has been campaigning actively in South Carolina and who could draw a significant number of African American voters.

“That’s one of the big imponderables,” Black said. “Sharpton gets a very positive reception, but he gets very little support by elected African American leaders. I think the black vote will split.”

Rep. James E. Clyburn, a five-term congressman from eastern South Carolina and one of the most important African American politicians in South Carolina, initially endorsed Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, a friend and political ally. But Gephardt withdrew the morning after he placed fourth in the Iowa caucuses, and Clyburn’s second endorsement remains up for grabs.

“Edwards needs to get as big a share of the African American vote as he can,” Black said. And a nod from Clyburn could help in that effort. Estimates are that up to half of the Democratic voters in South Carolina are African American.

So far, though, Clyburn hasn’t indicated any favorites among the remaining seven Democratic candidates, and may be awaiting the outcome of the New Hampshire primary.

Edwards, though, has gained the backing of several key members of Clyburn’s staff, including Ike Williams, who was Gephardt’s state campaign director here, and Dalton Tresvant, director of one of Clyburn’s regional offices.

Williams said he would advise the Edwards campaign on how best to reach Clyburn’s supporters, part of a network that helped Clyburn win reelection in 2002 with 67% of the vote.

“We’ll be turning to all the people we lined up for Gephardt,” Williams said, adding that he believed Edwards’ positions were closer to Gephardt’s than those of the other Democratic contenders.

“That’s why I decided [to join Edwards’ campaign]. I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch. I want to help fashion the result in South Carolina,” he said.

That could give Edwards the kind of on-the-ground organization that unions can supply a candidate in Northern industrial states.

“Williams can help open doors for Edwards,” said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia. “And from what I’ve seen, Edwards hasn’t seen a lot of momentum.”

In fact, momentum of any kind has been hard to discern here. There has been little recent polling, but results from last month showed Dean, Edwards, Clark and Sharpton in the teens, within 4 percentage points of each other.

Black said he believed Edwards would likely win South Carolina. Kerry, viewed as a Massachusetts liberal, doesn’t play well in the Old South, Black said. He said he believed Dean would continue to fade.

“He’s got $50 million, but I don’t think he’s going to be the nominee,” Black said. “He’s got an ad campaign, but the dogs aren’t eating the food.”