How far a positive aura can carry Edwards

Anne Emerson from Canterbury, N.H., says she's one who "likes them nice all the time, but in New Hampshire, we do enjoy all kinds." At McGarvey's pub, owner John O'Keefe has watched hundreds of candidacies live and die in New Hampshire since he moved here from Massachusetts 35 years ago. "It's part of politics, being negative," he says. When asked whether Edwards can afford to keep the same tone in New Hampshire, he looked back to Edmund Muskie's presidential campaign of 1972: "Muskie tried to be Mr. Nice Guy and got destroyed here."

In Greenville, S.C., where Edwards campaigned Wednesday morning, looking ahead to the state's Feb. 3 primary, the native son got a warm welcome home. To be sure, many here saw his performance in Iowa as proof that, with his energy and demeanor, is electable. "He looks like a president," said Patrick Mungrum, an undecided trial lawyer attending Edwards's event at a street bistro. But others said that Edwards is touching a deeper nerve in America's body politic. As he told some 200 fans, "If you want someone's who's going to snipe, I'm not your guy."

Joe Adams and Jessica Friedman, a father-daughter team of attorneys who drove down from Asheville, N.C., as part of a 'North Carolina Mountain Democrats' contingent, said Edwards's optimistic message doesn't play as well on TV as in person. But in small groups and one-on-one, Mr. Adams says Edwards is "unbeatable."

Part of it is a genuine belief that "America can do better." But his personal story - a millworker's son who clawed his way through public schools and worked through college unpacking trucks - epitomizes a political idealism that harks back to FDR and John F. Kennedy. "He really believes in his message of hope and optimism," says Adams.

At least in part, Iowans seemed to react against the political game of parry and attack that defined the Dean and Gephardt campaigns. Pundits admitted they failed to track an undercurrent of support for Kerry's and Edwards's more populist and optimist messages.

For his part, Edwards vowed to "cut lobbyists off at the knees" and he riffed on a description of "two Americas:" two school systems, two tax systems, two classes. He also said the South has a "huge responsibility" to address racial inequalities. "Cynics didn't build this country," he said to huge applause. "Optimists built this country.... I believe in the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible."

His biggest challenge will be to collar conservative voters in the South who support George Bush. But many here see him as a centrist, even a conservative. Mike Evatt of Seneca, S.C., pointed out that "He believes in equality for everyone, but he's also against same-sex marriage" - a view that many in the South could support.

Tom Slaton, a 20-year Army veteran whose son just returned from eight months in Iraq, says he's never seen Edwards attack his opponents unfairly, saving his most biting criticism for Mr. Bush. "Why smear people?" says Mr. Slaton. "Eventually, they'll smear themselves."

Edwards's optimistic message is resonating with voters because of a disconnect many feel with Washington, said one Edwards supporter from Greenville. "It's like 10 percent of the people control Washington and the other 90 percent of us sit at home with no power to change it."

Edwards's personal story of going from a poor upbringing to a multimillion-dollar class-action attorney also resonated. "That's what the people of America are hoping, that they can do what John Edwards has done," said Adams.

• Contributing to this report were Patrik Jonsson in Greenville, S.C., Noel C. Paul in Concord, N.H., and Sara B. Miller in Boston.

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