Edwards campaign fails to draw the crowds

DEMOCRAT PRIMARY: Maybe it was the snow that swirled down from the leaden skies over Lake Michigan, or perhaps it was the perception that the speaker is now fighting a losing battle to be president.

In any event, the turnout for Senator John Edwards's rally at the University Campus in Green Bay was small, a couple of hundred people, compared to the crowds he drew in New Hampshire and South Carolina before Senator John Kerry defeated him in Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday.

About 250 mostly young people from the town 100 miles north of Milwaukee filled a small room, but even then there were empty chairs at the back and plenty of room for a depleted media pool.

An aide handed out a pile of amateurish placards, made to look as if composed by students, with messages in crayon such as "Edwards for Wisconsin". Many people said before he arrived they thought Mr Edwards was more likely to end up as vice-presidential candidate on a Kerry ticket - assuming there is one.

But Senator Edwards has not given up, and in this independent mid-western state he sees an opportunity in next Tuesday's primary to connect with voters. He has a relentlessly populist message about two Americas, one rich and privileged, the other poor and underpaid.

He stands in the centre of the room, in suit and winter hiking boots, gesturing eloquently like a fresh-faced Elmer Gantry, promising happiness in a better America "if you help me change the system". Alternatively, the millionaire trial lawyer depicts himself as Tom Cruise in a John Grisham novel, the son of a mill worker who studied law, took on corporate lawyers "beat 'em, then beat 'em again".

His message is relentlessly protectionist, in contrast to that of Mr Kerry. If he became president there would not be free trade but "fair trade".

He ridiculed the comment of Mr Gregory Mankiw, President Bush's economic adviser, that it made sense to outsource jobs if they cost less abroad. "Outsourcing this administration - that would be a good thing," Mr Edwards said to cheers.

The North Carolina senator is well liked for his upbeat, almost revolutionary message, but since Tuesday he has been up against the inclination of Democrats to rally round the top vote-getter. He sees himself as "in the place that I wanted to be - one-on-one with somebody, in this case Senator Kerry", ignoring another last ditch campaign by Howard Dean.

He got unexpected support from the former Vermont governor yesterday, who said Mr Edwards would be a stronger candidate against Mr Bush than Mr Kerry. Former president Bill Clinton has also encouraged Edwards in a phone call to keep going. Mr Dean and the conservative media are indirectly helping him by raising tough questions about Mr Kerry's past record, and he is not giving up.