Iowans are humble people. We don't rock the boat. We don't complain. We do the work because it needs to be done; and at the end of the day, we know the difference between right and wrong and what is best for us.

The nation, including some presidential candidates, may write us off. They underestimate us, consider us to be "little people" in the grand scheme of things, but they are hugely mistaken.

Iowans have big voices and strong convictions. We have families and jobs and needs to survive.

And we want a leader who understands us, who listens to us and who will do right by us.

That leader is John Edwards.

The son of a textile mill worker, Edwards has a better knowledge of the wants and needs of rural America. He can relate to the rural culture better than any of the other democratic candidates, as he is the only candidate with rural roots.

Edwards wasn't born into his wealth. He worked hard for many years, starting at an $8 an hour job unloading UPS boxes in college, pushing himself through law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and working sleepless, back-to-back 24 hours days on civil cases to help regular people who had been done injustice by unsympathetic corporations.

There are no skeletons in Edwards' closet. He's been tested before as a U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate and rose above it. His biggest flaw - as other media organizations have pointed out - is that he doesn't attack his rivals. He smiles, sticks to his issues and continues to push forward.

However, he also lives by his father's advice - Don't start a fight, but don't walk away from one, either.

By Iowa standards - as well as most American - that is hardly a flaw. That's acting responsibly, and as a country, we deserve a leader that will act responsibly.

Edwards knows the agony a parent has when their child dies. His son, Wade, was killed in an automobile crash in 1996. He worked to heal, and therefore has a deep, personal understanding of the patience and endurance it takes to overcome such a tragic event. He can also appreciate the plight of parents who want their children brought out of harm's way.

Edwards plan to strengthen enforcement of drug laws in rural areas and expand treatment programs for adults suffering with controlled substance addictions shows that.

He also recognizes that there is no military solution to the war in Iraq and that it is time to bring our troops home and allow the Iraqi government to take responsibility for their country.

Edwards is a relntless trial lawyer who won his cases by outworking and outpreparing the competition. A trial laywer wins by persuasion, and Edwards is a superior trial lawyer. Perhaps it is time to have someone with a superior power of persuasion in the White House. Someone who works in facts and can present them to other countries to win back our allies and establish our global credibility once again.

Edwards also knows that illnesses can strike at any time. His wife, Elizabeth, is currently battling cancer; and while her condition is stabilized, she continues to fight - both in the oncology unit and on the campaign trial.

Edwards knows the high cost of health care and how it can affect families that are already struggling to make ends meet. His proposal for universal health care is the only one that is clear, comprehensive and best fits the needs of Iowans and the rest of the country. His plan requires that every American have health insurance, requires businesses to either cover employees or help pay their premiums, and would make insurance affordable by creating new tax credits, expanding Medicare and SCHIP, and reforming insurance laws.

Most of all, Edwards is Iowa's best chance at restoring hope for rural areas.

His plan includes investing seed money for rural recovery, expanding markets for ethanol by requiring new cars to run on both gasoline and E85 ethanol and to require banks to invest in rural areas and rural small businesses.

His plan also includes revision of unfair Medicare and Medicaid formulas that punish rural areas.

Edwards knows Iowa. He has spent much of his campaign visiting all of our 99 counties and talking WITH, not AT, our residents.

We believe John Edwards is the strongest of all the Democratic candidates and the most viable in a presidential election.