.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} The former senator from North Carolina has always been a heat-seeking populist missile on the campaign trail, but in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, John Edwards has turned up the heat by snagging juicy endorsements, verbally sparring with his competitors and blitzing the state, often with his wife, Elizabeth, at his side, in a furious effort to capture a win on Jan. 3.

At a recent noon rally at the Temple for Performing Arts, 300 Iowans, many wearing black United Steelworkers of America jackets, chanted before the charismatic Southern presidential candidate took the stage: “We love Elizabeth, we love John. We want to see him on the White House lawn!”

Edwards has been campaigning in Iowa for the last three years, and he has earned an enormous amount of good will and built a deep statewide organization, hoping to finally snag his party’s nomination, which he lost to John Kerry in 2004.

With his main message of “Two Americas – the rich and the poor,” Edwards’ campaign has the urgency of a man running out of time. He has run out of money and is accepting public financing, never a good sign.

Edwards’ dynamic call to “end poverty, institute a far-reaching national health-care program, and take on the powerful special interests in Washington” has garnered him the support of five labor unions and many left-leaning Democrats.

After covering Edwards on the campaign trail since May, we spoke to the candidate about our readers’ concerns.

J. Barry Griswell, CEO of Principal Financial Group Inc., wanted to know how Edwards would tackle the immigration problem in Iowa and elsewhere around the country, with a Congress that’s divided on the issue.

Edwards: We need a comprehensive immigration reform. We need to strengthen our borders, provide a path to citizenship for those undocumented workers in America, and ensure that new immigrants learn English. Right now, we have second-class workers in this country, and America is a land of equality, not a land of first-class citizens and second-class laborers.

It’s unrealistic to think that we can deport 12 million undocumented workers. We’ve got to provide them with a pathway toward citizenship and be realistic. The only way that’s going to happen is by getting a Democratic Congress. This issue is important to our national security and has become a wedge issue for Republicans, but we have to be realistic.

Business Record: Do you support a temporary-workers program?

Edwards: No. We need a comprehensive plan to reform the entire immigration problem.

Gayle Collins, a Des Moines commercial real estate agent: What’s your plan to end the war in Iraq?

Edwards: We absolutely have to end the war and get our troops home. There isn’t any military solution to the chaos there. The Iraqi people have to solve the problem politically by taking responsibility for their country. I’d immediately withdraw 50,000 troops and then bring all combat troops home in my first year as president. I’d engage the neighboring countries to help stabilize Iraq, and it’s in their best interests to do that, too. We need to be focusing on Afghanistan and restore our moral leadership in the world.

Business Record: You voted to give President Bush the authority to go to war, and you were on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when you did it. Why?

Edwards: It was a mistake. I’ve said that many times. I was the first candidate to acknowledge that my vote was a mistake, and there are still other candidates running that haven’t acknowledged that it was a mistake. I voted for the war because the information I had at the time supported it.

Scott Noah, a small business owner in Des Moines: Health care is a big expense for most small businesses. How are you going to help low-wage earners get affordable health care?

Edwards: Elizabeth and I have health care; so do all the other (presidential) candidates. It’s just plain wrong that there are 47 million people without health care, and it’s a moral outrage. I get mad just thinking about the richest country in the world not providing health care to all our people. I’ll provide universal health care to everyone. My health-care plan requires businesses to either cover their employees or help pay their premiums. For those who aren’t covered, there will be a large pool of healthy people, so that those that are higher risk can afford to be covered. We’ll have universal health care in this country, or I’ll end health-care benefits for the Congress. Every American will have comprehensive health coverage, including mental health.

Business Record: How are you planning on financing national health care?

Edwards:It’s going to cost about $90-$120 billion a year. I’ll repeal Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthiest in America, those who make over $200,000 a year. By negotiating with the drug companies, we can get better prices for drugs. I’m not going to let the insurance companies and drug companies dictate what kind of plan we’ll have. They won’t be at the table.

Rick Clark, city manager of Des Moines: How would you begin to restore the image of America abroad?

Edwards: There’s a sense of decency about the American people, and we have to restore our moral authority by being a leader in fighting global poverty. It’s a moral imperative and a security issue because poverty creates a breeding ground for terrorism and instability throughout the world. Every child in the world should go to primary school, and we’ve got to provide prevention and treatment drugs for the three “killer” diseases: tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS. We have to double our investment in clean water, increase vaccinations in developing nations and rescind the “global gag rule” that bars U.S. family planning aid to foreign nonprofits.

Business Record: We’re in a mortgage crisis where people are losing their houses. Will your administration provide some support to those who are paying high interest rates on their mortgages?

Edwards: I’ll end the predatory lending that’s been going on in this country for years. Consumer debt has increased eightfold, and most Americans live from paycheck to paycheck. The result is two Americas, one struggling just to get by and another that has everything it could want, including big tax breaks from George W. Bush. I’m going to stand up for regular families and pass new consumer protections against the rip-offs from the credit card companies and banks. We have to do something right now, and as the next president, I will rescue homeowners at risk of foreclosure by creating a Home Rescue Fund to help families get more affordable mortgages from responsible lenders and let them restructure mortgage debt that exceeds their home’s value through bankruptcy. I’ll also hold mortgage lenders and investors accountable; they have to bear some responsibility for their bad loans.

Bill Van Orsdel, retired insurance executive, real estate developer and ecology activist: What are you going to do to keep the water supply safe and clean and tackle global warming?

Edwards: If we don’t act now, we’re going to be too late. We have to go to alternative renewable fuels and end our dependence on foreign oil. We have to have tools to do it, and that goes along with protecting our natural resources. We need to develop a new energy economy that will actually help rural areas in small towns by giving new good-paying jobs in states like Iowa. As president, I’d cap emissions of greenhouse gases starting in 2010 with a cap-and-trade system, reducing them by 15 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. We need to lead the world to a new climate treaty that commits other countries, especially China and India, to reduce their pollution. I’d create a New Energy Economy Fund to support U.S. research, invest in new carbon-capture and efficient automobile technology. It’s a problem we can’t continue ignoring either here in this country or around the world.