'Two Americas' Enough for Edwards?

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That a stump speech could have such power would seem unlikely in an age when the lingua franca of politics is scripted in 30-sec. commercials by media consultants and pollsters. But the resonance came from Edwards' own life story as the son of a millworker who grew up to be a spectacularly successful trial lawyer and then a U.S. Senator. "I beat 'em, and I beat 'em again, and then I beat 'em again," Edwards would declare. "How many times has someone said to you that you can't do something? That you're not quite prepared for this, you don't have the right training or are not experienced enough?" Edwards surprised everyone by coming from nowhere to place second in Iowa. And while the power of that stump speech didn't win the nomination for him in 2004, it did propel him to the position of John Kerry's running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket. And when they lost the election in November, the speech was the reason no one could count out Edwards for the future.

Elizabeth was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after the election. "We went immediately, full force, especially me, into making sure we got her started on treatment," Edwards says. "We moved very, very quickly and aggressively." As their family began to deal with the reality of her illness and regain footing, the couple turned to the question of what John would do next. "We were basically sitting around—me and Elizabeth and some of our friends—talking about what we should do now, what I should do now," Edwards recalls. "As we talked about it, Elizabeth's the one who said it. She said, 'I just want you to know, every time you talk about doing something about poverty in America, you light up. There's a passion and energy to what you say that is different.' And I realized she was exactly right. That's what I wanted to do."

Not since Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Kennedy in the 1960s had any Democrat of national stature addressed the subject with the focus that Edwards gave it. He helped start a poverty center at the University of North Carolina, wrote a book about it and, when the time came to launch his next presidential campaign, chose hurricane-ravaged New Orleans as the place to do so. There are differences in style and substance this time around. In his newer, more populist incarnation, Edwards 2.0 has hammered away not only at President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and the special interests that he says call the shots in Washington but also at front runner Hillary Clinton. At one point, he even refused to say whether he would endorse her if she won the Democratic nomination. "I am surprised at just how angry John has become," said his former Senate colleague Chris Dodd, another presidential contender. "This is not the same John Edwards I once knew." Some of his former supporters feel the same way. Frank Best had originally signed up to lead Edwards' campaign in Louisa County, Iowa, but has since switched to Barack Obama, saying "Edwards just doesn't have the same campaign he had four years ago."

Edwards does not deny that he is a different candidate. "There's a toughness and a seasoning that comes from going through the experience," he says. "You have a responsibility to make sure that people know what the fundamental differences are." But as Edwards sees the lead he once held in Iowa slipping away, with Clinton and Obama taking turns heading up the latest polls, there are also signs that he may be coming full circle.

This week he unveiled a new, softer stump speech that talks of "America rising." As he explains, "Having laid the foundation of some differences that we have on substance, now it's my job to assure that [voters] know exactly what I want to do as President, which is what I was doing in the last three weeks last time." In other words, the moment has arrived once again. It's time to make another closing argument.