A Labor Day Windfall

As we celebrate the working man today, a large group of them have endorsed Sen. Edwards.

John Edwards won the endorsement of the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America as more than 1,000 union members cheered the Democratic presidential candidate.

“America was not built on Wall Street. America was built by steelworkers and mine workers,” Edwards told supporters at a downtown Labor Day rally and parade [...]

Earlier, Edwards suggested New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign represents politics-as-usual in Washington and that Edwards represents a break from the past.

“We just have a disagreement,” Edwards said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Sen. Clinton defends Washington lobbyists and the system that exists in Washington and thinks she can work within that system. If that were true we would already have universal health care. If that were true America would already be attacking global warming in a serious way.”

Edwards has also received the Carpenter's Union endorsement. Chris Dodd locked up the IAFF (firefighter's union), and Hillary Clinton has the machinist's union and the transportation workers, although the machinists also said that if their members wanted to vote Republican they should go with Mike Huckabee.

John Edwards appeals to workers because he talks about their issues. He cares about the fact that we have to work longer and for more hours just to get by in today's economy. He cares about all of us struggling with health care, even if we have insurance, even if we are the son of a famous scion like Sandra Day O'Connor. He cares about all of the manufacturing jobs leaving this country in droves, and the substandard imports coming from places like China, and the resistance to regulate them in any meaningful way. This is why he has earned the respect of people like President Jimmy Carter.

"I can say without equivocation that no one who is running for president has presented anywhere near as comprehensive and accurate a prediction of what our country ought to do in the field of environmental quality, in the field of health care for those who are not presently insured, for those who struggle with poverty."

Edwards is clearly betting it all on Iowa, with a message of populism and fighting powerful entrenched interests. It's an unusual campaign that the country may be ready to approve if they get to see it.