Madrid campaigns for Edwards in Des Moines

Former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid has been in Iowa campaigning for John Edwards since Dec. 30, and what she’s seen has made her optimistic that the former senator will win the state’s caucus tonight.

“We are doing really well in the rural areas because we’ve worked them hard,” she said. “Rural areas take a lot of personal time.”

Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Joe Biden are also expected to also make strong pushes in rural areas of the state, but Madrid mentioned only Biden as a candidate the Edwards campaign is closely watching. In recent weeks, Richardson’s support in Iowa polls has fallen and Biden’s has climbed, and the two are now statistically tied.

Madrid predicted that the caucus will come down to which frontrunner – Edwards, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama – gets more support in the second round of voting from supporters of second-tier candidates who failed to reach the 15-percent threshold of viability in the first round. She claimed that Edwards is the top second choice of Iowa caucus goers.

“Edwards and Hillary and Barack are so close that you have to look at what’s going to happen with the second vote,” she said.

Madrid has had some up-close and personal time with Edwards while in Des Moines. She saw him and his wife Elizabeth at a party on New Year’s Eve and again the next day at a meeting with steelworker union members.

Then on Wednesday night Madrid was backstage with Edwards, his wife and singer John Mellencamp during a free concert the rock star put on for Edwards. More than 3,000 people attended, she said.

Madrid said campaigning has been “rough.” It’s freezing – sometimes below zero – and candidates and their supporters are working through fatigue.

“Everybody is so exhausted,” she said. “I have such admiration for all the candidates, including Bill Richardson. It is so exhausting, what we put them through, and it’s so cold there. People are still out there knocking on doors.”

In light of that, Madrid said she was shocked to hear Edwards’ speech at the Mellencamp concert.

“He gave one of the most rousing, unbelievably transformational speeches I’ve ever heard,” she said. “For a candidate to do that at the end of this process in Iowa is just amazing.”