"Edwards Lures Dean Voters"

Political Insider:

Since the official launch of his presidential campaign, John is pulling no punches, demanding people help change everything from the minimum wage to global warming, while accepting no lethargic hangers-on. At certain points, the themes seem to draw parallels with a certain former presidential candidate: Howard Dean.

Edwards is positioning himself as the outsider candidate, disgusted with the status quo is Washington, despite winning a seat in the Senate less than a decade ago. The former senator is also relying heavily on blogs, advertising everything from his website to the "sneak peek" YouTube announcement video in an attempt to win over technology-savvy voters critical to any campaign in the digital age. Such positioning is what took Dean, an asterisk is most 2004 presidential polls, to a near upset over expected nominee John Kerry.

It's no wonder why Edwards to targeting Dean supporters: A Pew Research Center survey released in April 2005 found "...Dean activists are far wealthier, better educated, more secular and much less ethnically diverse than other Democrats. A disproportionate number of Dean activists are white, well-educated Baby Boomers fully a third are college graduates between the ages of 45 and 64, compared with just 9% of Democrats in the general public."

The survey also found the "the war in Iraq was not the only important issue in the activists' decision to support Dean. One third (34%) said health care was important, and about one-fourth (24%) cited fiscal responsibility" all issues Edwards is furthering.

In what will certainly be his last presidential race should he lose the Democratic nomination again, Edwards needs all the support he can muster to take on fellow heavyweights Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. His approach may seem unconventional, but should the voters follow him like they did Dean in 2004, he may be the last candidate standing.