2004 political presidential cartoons about Iowa primary precinct caucus and caucuses news, reports  information on 2004 Democrat and Republican candidates, campaigns  issues

"Edwards Go Home!"
John Edwards political cartoon.

July 15, 2003 ...Well, Edwards probably will take another Waukee stop off his schedule for the balance of the caucus campaign – primarily since he was invited to leave Iowa. Headline from yesterday’s Quad-City Times: “Edwards defends hog-lot proposal; Senator visits Iowa to stump for presidential bid.” Excerpts from report from Waukee by the Times’ Kathie Obradovich: “A John Deere tractor pulled up across the street as North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, a Democrat, stood in a nearby gazebo, talking about his presidential campaign to a few dozen supporters and townspeople. ‘This is perfect,’ Edwards said, gesturing to the tractor, raising his voice to be heard as the engine cut into his comments about preserving America’s ‘small-town, rural way of life.’ It turned out a local farmer was intent on attracting Edwards’ attention with more than just machinery. Jerry Burger, a farmer and livestock producer, stopped the candidate as he headed over to the local café to raise his objections to the environmental policy Edwards introduced last week in Congress. ‘I think you need to go back to North Carolina,’ Burger said. ‘All you want is more regulations on livestock.’ Burger, who says he ‘votes Republican most of the time,’ said he’s also concerned about urban sprawl. Waukee is a suburb west of Des Moines with about 5,100 residents. ‘This is some of the best land in the world, and it’s getting bulldozed and just turned into malls and all kinds of development.’ Edwards, who paused briefly, responded,  ‘We’re actually working very hard to protect farmland. I’ve worked hard on it in North Carolina.’ He added, ‘I think what I’m doing is actually for the farmers’ as he broke away from the conversation and went into the café. Edwards proposed legislation last week to require the Environmental Protection Administration to limit air and water pollution from large livestock-confinement operations. ‘I would just respectfully disagree with him,’ Edwards told reporters a few minutes later. ‘I think it is important for us to manage the environmental impact in this big, corporate farms.’ He said he wants to ‘keep our farmers in business,’ but said the expansion of big, corporate hog farms ‘can do enormous damage to the water and the air.’” In AP coverage of the Edwards-Burger episode, it was reported that Burger, who raises hogs and crops on 2,000 acres near Waukee, said Edwards was “as far left as you can get” on the environment.