ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
The leading Democratic candidates are all in Nevada today. Polls show that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards are in a tight race there just three days before the state's caucuses.
Edwards has yet to win a primary or a caucus. He is relying on strong showing in Nevada, as well as in South Carolina's primary on January 26th. Edwards was born in South Carolina.
In 2004, he won the presidential primary there by a wide margin, and he has spent a lot of time in recent days campaigning in the state.
Our colleague Michele Norris caught up with him earlier this week at a rally at Myrtle Beach High School.
MICHELE NORRIS: A couple hundred Edwards supporters are in the Myrtle Beach High cafeteria but hardly enough to fill the room. The volunteers urged folks to come forward and crowd the space in front of the stage. The crowd is upbeat. The mood ain't a bit low key.
Janice Olds is a proud Edwards supporter from Myrtle Beach. I asked whether a strong showing in her state was crucial for her candidate.
Ms. JANICE OLDS (Resident, Myrtle Beach): Very, very important and I suspect that God bless him. He keeps saying that he's going to go all the way, and I sure hope he does, and you know, all of our little $50 pledges or whatever hopefully will drive that bus all the way to the convention, but I don't know.
NORRIS: Nick Januzzi was also at the back of the room. He, too, plans to stick with Edwards.
Mr. NICK JANUZZI (Resident, Myrtle Beach): You know, you can't be runner-up all the time because you're never going to be a winner, you know? He's doing pretty well, but not well enough. So, I'm hoping he does well here. I think, you know, like they said, he might be a sleeper. That's what I'm hoping for, you know. Hillary and Obama battle it out, and here he comes.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. JOHN EDWARDS (Former Democratic Senator, North Carolina; Democratic Presidential Candidate): Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for the introduction.
NORRIS: Edwards came to this rally alone - no wife, none of his children were there - just the candidate in a blue blazer and jeans, giving his impassioned and by now, well-practiced stomp speech.
Mr. EDWARDS: …because I will bring all combat troops out of Iraq. I will end combat missions in Iraq…
(Soundbite of applause)
Mr. EDWARDS: …and there will be no further permanent military bases in Iraq…
(Soundbite of people talking)
NORRIS: Afterwards, he signed a few autographs, posed for a few photos, then hopped back on his big blue campaign bus emblazoned with the words real change starts now.
We joined Edwards on his main street express. Ironically, Clinton and Obama were splashed across the flat screen TV just as we climbed onboard.
I sat down with John Edwards to talk about his campaign and the impact of race surfacing just as the Democratic contest heads south.
Mr. EDWARDS: I grew up in, first, the segregated South and grew up in the midst of the civil rights movement. I lived in South Carolina, and then, Georgia, and North Carolina.
So, everything from Selma to the Orangeburg massacre to the four young men walking into a luncheon counter, a Woolworth luncheon counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, all of that was going on around me as I was growing up.
And you have to just - you have to be really thoughtful about issues of race, because I grew up with an awful lot of code words that were used. And efforts were made to stir up race, in some cases for political motives, in some cases just driven by hatred. I mean…
NORRIS: Is now what we're seeing here though an effort in some ways to stir up racial politics?
Mr. EDWARDS: It's hard for me to know, to perfectly honest. I don't know the answer to that. Sometimes stirring it up is an intentional. It's not the intended result but it is the result. And I think any stirring it up this issue whether it's intentional or unintentional is unfortunate and not healthy.
I think what we want to do is move forward.
NORRIS: Now, this is coming back to South Carolina is like coming home for you. We talked to people at this last event who see you as a son of South Carolina. What is at stake for you here in this state?
Mr. EDWARDS: Well, it's important for me to do well. And I think it's important for the other two to do well, too. But…
NORRIS: Now, what's at stake for you?
Mr. EDWARDS: For me, I just need - If I make certain that voters here know that I'm fighting for the middle class and to lift up low-income families and, I guess, moneyed interests, they'll respond. And I think that these people know me, they trust me.
NORRIS: What is your strategy coming out of South Carolina? You said that you're in it to win it. You plan to stay in this until February 5th and beyond. So, what's your strategy coming out in South Carolina?
Mr. EDWARDS: Well, after South Carolina, we'll go to the February 5th states. Later this week, I'm making a February 5th fly-around to a number of February 5th states. See, at that point, it really is - it's going to happen fast and furiously.
I think what's different though about this race that voters will begin to see is we have three serious candidates. All of them are taking a significant part of the vote, and I just strongly suspect, unless I don't know something about the other two that I should know, that everyone's in this for the long haul. Yeah, I would expect this to go on for a long time.
NORRIS: It seems that you could be a candidate or almost a kingmaker right now if you were willing to think about cutting deals, if you were willing to give signals to some of your supporters.
MR. EDWARDS: Well, my job right now is to run for president on the causes that I believe in. That's what drives me every day. It's the reason I get up every day and that's what I'm going to continue to do.
NORRIS: Is it possible that we could see a broker convention?
MR. EDWARDS: I have no idea.
NORRIS: Have you been spreading those rules?
MR. EDWARDS: Not like I should, probably. I think anything's possible, honestly. I think - I would fully expect to see over the next several months, a lot of ups and downs. I think we got a long way to go.
NORRIS: Next question I just want to ask you is there someone I met at the rally just now at Myrtle Beach High School. I met a gentleman named Nick Januzzi and he was there. He had two Edwards buttons on, he was holding an Edwards sign, he is fully committed to your candidacy, but he said at some point, we need more than just a runner-up finish. We've got to see him actually win one of these races. If that does happen in Nevada, if that doesn't happen in South Carolina, you're committed to stay on the race, what is the model for that? Who do you look to that's actually run this kind of unconventional campaign?
MR. EDWARDS: I think we've had them in the past and I think there were circumstances where they could've been successful. I think it depends on the kind of candidate - all three candidates in this case because I think that all of us are going to be tested and we're going to be looked at very hard. And what do I think the honest likelihood is anytime somebody pops up, they're going to be critically evaluated and people then are going to look hard at the other one or other two candidates that are still on the race. We got a long way to go.
NORRIS: So what is your - in order for you, if you don't take a strong finish in these races that are just ahead of us…
MR. EDWARDS: You mean Nevada and South Carolina.
NORRIS: Nevada and South Carolina. Yeah. How do you remain viable?
MR. EDWARDS. Oh, you just keep going because the difference is right now, we're - part of it is we're accumulating delegates. The difference between the three of us on delegates is miniscule and it's the delegates that win you the nomination. So…
NORRIS: So, you're saying that we're focused on the wrong thing, we're too focused on the vote count?
MR. EDWARDS: Yeah. And it's going to last a long time. I mean, as I've known New Hampshire, I think less than half of 1 percent of voters in America have voted. I mean, 99 percent of voices have not been heard. I mean, I had to set this early. I intend to make sure their voices are heard.
NORRIS: And I'm not going to bother to ask you the vice presidential question because you seemed to be asked - over and over again.
MR. EDWARDS: I'm not going to be vice president.
NORRIS: But I assume that - okay. So, I don't have to ask, you just told me.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MR. EDWARDS: I could say that very simply.
NORRIS: Senator Edwards, thank you very much.
MR. EDWARDS: Thanks, Michele.
SIEGEL: It's John Edwards speaking with our colleague, Michele Norris, today in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.