If Democrat John Edwards pulls off a victory in the hard-fought Iowa presidential caucus on Thursday, he may owe Ben & Jerry's founder Ben Cohen a double-scoop debt of gratitude.
Cohen has been the driving force behind Caucus 4 Priorities, a group dedicated to fighting wasteful Pentagon spending and getting the government to redirect the money toward more useful ends, like education, health care and energy development.
Over the last year, 20 field workers hired by Caucus 4 Priorities have managed to get 10,000 Iowans to sign a pledge promising they would go to their caucus on Thursday and vote as a bloc for the presidential contender who the group thinks will do the most to address their concerns on Pentagon spending.
Cohen himself has visited the Hawkeye state six times to promote the Caucus 4 Priorities cause. To see the group's Website, click
HERE.
So where does Edwards come in? Caucus 4 Priorities also asked all the candidates hundreds of questions designed to see which one of themo most agreed with the group's positions. Last month, the group announced that Edwards was that person.
The Edwards endorsement is looking more and more critical now that the North Carolinian has pulled even or even inched ahead of his two major rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in Iowa despite their their advantages in fundraising and media coverage. Hey, John Kerry only won the Iowa caucuses by 6,400 votes in 2004.
Cohen is presently out of the country on a holiday break, but he's planning to be in Iowa Thursday night when the votes come in. Gotta think there will be a heck of an ice cream party if Edwards prevails, plus pictures of Cohen's grinning mug if the Edwards express really does take off.
Yeaaaaah!
-- Sam Hemingway
PS: Cohen's also involved in New Hampshire with the Priorities New Hampshire group, which has been pushing the candidates there on education issues.
