The entrance to the Eagles Lodge on 4th Avenue is filled with eagles on plaques, eagles on flags and eagles on beer steins. John Edwards made his last stop in Grinnell before the caucus here Wednesday night, bringing along actor Tim Robbins and perfectly exemplifying the two core aspects of Edwards' campaign: focusing on work with community groups and snagging endorsements from minor, random celebrities.
The Edwards group on campus was the first Grinnell presidential group to host community meal and the first to talk about the importance of building support from local community associations. When Elizabeth Edwards visited, she didn't speak in Harris or even the Forum--the campaign booked her for the Mayflower old folks home, where she wooed a crowd of suspiciously suspendered voters.
But who can forget the pro-Edwards campus appearances of Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and, weeks earlier, the plumber from Desperate Housewives. True, Mike Huckabee won the endorsement of Chuck Norris, but there's no way the 1969 Black Belt Magazine "Fighter of the Year" was going to vote Democrat.
Tim Robbins seemed in his element introducing Edwards in the Eagle's Lodge dance hall. To the down home crowd of baseball-capped and Hawkeye sweatshirt wearing Grinnellians, he said, "People often tell me, ÔWhat do you know? You're an actor!" But, Robbins continued, calmly and confidently, he reads the Nation and listens to talk radio, veterans and cab drivers. "I realize the depth and decency of the American people," he said, to which a man in the crowd honestly shouted, "Hear hear!" Robbins, who played "Slave #1" in a television episode entitled "Planet of the Slave Girls" before he starred in the Shawshank Redemption, believes Edwards is the candidate who will listen to the opinions of America's working mothers, veterans and school teachers.
Following Robbins's introduction, Edwards walked out to the tune of John Mellancamp's "This is Our Country," shaking the hands of the working mothers and fathers themselves as he approached the ceiling-high flag and banners bearing his name. Edwards's address was similar to others he had given across Iowa in the past few months--an emphasis on eradicating poverty in America, creating viable, universal health care and getting troops out of Iraq. He told the now-familiar story of James Lowe, the American whose cleft palette was not fixed until age 50 due to a lack of health insurance.
But one part of Edwards's speech WAS noticeably different. In previous months, Edwards finished his speech with a tacked-on request to caucus for him. On Wednesday, his introduction, conclusion and closing post-question remarks centered on one idea: Caucus for me.
