By Caroline Cooper of "Tigers On The Trail" and in collaboration with HuffPost's OffTheBus. Photos by Ginger Gibson.
"It's time for us to stand up" and that's just what a local Iowan is doing. After hearing Senator Edwards' speech a single mother with no health insurance who was once undecided is now caucusing for Edwards.
The rally started out with Elizabeth Edwards accompanied by Jack and Emma Claire. Elizabeth spoke of the long haul in the near future and joked, "I'm an insomniac which will be helpful on this 36 hour marathon."
Quickly following Elizabeth was Mari Culver, Iowa's first lady. Earlier in the campaign season Culver endorsed Senator Edwards. Culver said Edwards has been battle-tested in his previous run for the presidency and after reading his book, she too "chose to be inspired". With the 200,000 men and women who will sleep under a bridge tonight Culver believes Edwards is the "only candidate with a plan to end poverty in our lifetime".
With the anxious arrival of the senator, the crowd was ecstatic as he entered the room. He was casually dressed wearing jeans, a white button-down and a blazer. He shook hands of supporters and undecided caucus goers. Edwards promptly began speaking of not letting corporate greed eradicate what his parents and grandparents have worked for. He then asked a rhetorical question, "when will it stop?" with an older man in the crowd yelling, "when you're president". Edwards continued with, "we have a responsibility to our children and grandchildren...this is very personal...corporate greed rules with an iron fist and it's not just happening to Independents and Democrats, it's to all of us."
Questions were then taken from the audience, one of them being what is Edwards' stance on immigration. He quickly responded with advice given to him by his wife. "When you walk into Blockbuster a voice says 'Welcome to Blockbuster'. If Blockbuster can figure out when someone comes in, then we should be able to figure out when someone crosses our boarder. And if we can't figure it out then we need to ask Blockbuster."
After answering the question, Edwards was told last question by one of his aids and left the rally goers with some food for thought, "a tide-a-wave of change is sweeping through the country that people can't even imagine and you will be able to say, 'we stood up'."
To read more about Edwards' rally, check out this other "Tigers On The Trail" post.