MICHELE NORRIS, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And I'm Robert Siegel.
The first primary of this election season starts in a matter of hours, and candidates from both parties are making their last-minute pitches. For the Republicans, polls have John McCain leading Mitt Romney and the rest of the field. On the Democratic side, Barack Obama appears to be widening his lead over Hillary Clinton. Former Senator John Edwards is running in third.
NORRIS: I spoke with John Edwards this afternoon. He was on his campaign bus between Bedford and Laconia, New Hampshire. And he insisted that despite the polls and the fundraising picture, that he is in good shape.
Mr. JOHN EDWARDS (Former Democrat Senator, North Carolina; Presidential Candidate): I know that I'm the underdog. I understand that. But I think as long as the people understand here that I'm fighting and fighting for what matters, fighting against entrenched interests and - which means not taking lobbyists' money, not taking Washington lobbyists' money, not taking money from PACs, fighting for jobs in the middle class, for universal health care, we're getting - as this is personal for me, we're getting extraordinary response here.
NORRIS: You note that you're the underdog in this race; that's your own word. Are you battling the perception that this has become a two-person contest?
Mr. EDWARDS: No, what I'm battling is a hundred million dollars in each of two campaigns. They're the big-money campaigns; I'm not. My campaign is much more of a grassroots campaign, and I'm very proud of that. Now that voters are taking a hard look at us, it's actually amazing what I've been able to accomplish first in Iowa and now here in New Hampshire. And I think it will continue going forward.
NORRIS: You know, I've had the chance to attend some of the campaign rallies, and there's a stark difference in both the tone and the message between you and Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton.
Mr. EDWARDS: Yes.
NORRIS: In your rallies, you are absolutely on fire. You talk about this war against the middle class. You note time and time again that you are a fighter and that you're willing to take the fight to big corporations. Are you concerned at all that that sort of us against them anger won't catch fire when it's clear that the thing that really fired up voters back in Iowa was this message that was all about change and optimism, not anger?
Mr. EDWARDS: My message is entirely about change, and it's entirely optimistic. What I believe, it is the truth. I mean, there's a certain strength and passion when you tell the truth, and the truth in America is that these interests are standing between middle-class families and what they need. And it's just - it's not just rhetoric. This is real stuff affecting people's lives.
NORRIS: In speaking to some of the voters at some of your rallies, one of the concerns I heard was a concern about consistency in your past and in your rhetoric on the campaign trail; your vote for the war as a senator, your stand against the war as a candidate; your early position favoring a gradual approach to health care reform versus your call now for universal health care; your focus on poverty and the beleaguered middle class as a millionaire who now lives a privileged, upper-class life. What do you say to voters who wonder if there are not just two Americas but also, perhaps, two versions of John Edwards?
Mr. EDWARDS: I'm 54 years old; I have fought the same fight my entire life. The success I've been able to have in my own life, which I don't make any excuses for, I'm proud of. I achieved that success fighting for the same kind of people that I grew up with - the poor, working middle-class families fighting against very well-financed, entrenched corporate interests.
Now, on the war, I've been very clear about the war. I was wrong about the war. I should never have voted for this war. I have accepted responsibility for that. I did it voluntarily. I did it before - long before there was any presidential campaign this time around because it was right. It was the - no one else is responsible for that vote. I'm responsible for it. But I've learned a lesson. You learn lessons the hard way sometimes, and I've learned a lesson, and I have been one of the strongest critics of the war and one of the strongest, if not the strongest, presidential candidate for bringing this war to an end.
NORRIS: What's at stake for you there in New Hampshire? What do you need to do to survive? What would a second distant or even a third-place finish in that state mean for your campaign?
Mr. EDWARDS: It means I go on to the next contest. It means I go on to Nevada, South Carolina. It means we go on to the states that come after that. When I say I'm in this for the long haul, I'm deadly serious about it. This is not a fight for me. You can walk away from a fight for you. You can't walk away from a fight that is the cause of your life. And making certain that everybody in America has the kind of the chances I've had, that is the cause of my life. And I have - I'm going to be in it to the end. And that will be the White House.
NORRIS: Senator Edwards, thanks for talking to us.
Mr. EDWARDS: Thanks for having me.
NORRIS: That was former Senator John Edwards on his campaign bus in New Hampshire.