Watch Out for Edwards and Thompson in Iowa

David Yepsen, the dean of Iowa politics, says it's not over in the Hawkeye State and two also-rans could loom large on election day:

There's a lot of buzz about the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for Democratic caucus votes in Iowa. And there's also a lot of talk about the fight between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee on the Republican side.

Can Clinton recover and overtake Obama's narrow lead? Can Romney stop Huckabee to reclaim the top spot in the GOP race? Buzzzzzz.

All that tends to overlook two other candidates: Democrat John Edwards and Republican Fred Thompson. They're both showing real potential to come up fast here at the end.

One reason is the indecision of a lot of caucus-goers in both parties. This cycle, polls have shown around half the likely caucus-goers in each party could still be persuaded to change their minds. In other words, the so-called front-runners haven't closed the sale.

Both Edwards and Thompson are pouring time and resources into Iowa these days. Edwards built a respectable organization in Iowa in his 2004 campaign. He was the front-runner here for a while, then gradually slipped as the attention focused on celebrity candidates Clinton and Obama.

Read the rest of it here. Edwards certainly could win in Iowa. He's been there almost daily since he and John Kerry finished conceding the 2004 election. Iowa voters like to see their candidates in the flesh, and not just once - they expect to see them a lot and Edwards has certainly done his part.

On the GOP side Fred Thompson recently got an important endorsement from Rep. Steve King and is reportedly planning a major effort in Iowa. Should the voters tire of the Romney/Huckabee kerfuffle, Thompson could be their guy.



Wouldn't that be something?