I put this up recently at MyDD and Daily Kos, but for some reason forgot to cross-post here.

I am writing one front-page post at MyDD every Tuesday in support of John Edwards as part of their “unofficial candidate blogger” series (two Clinton supporters post on Mondays, two Edwards supporters post on Tuesdays, two Obama supporters post on Wednesdays, and a Biden, Dodd and Richardson supporter each post on Thursdays).

This was my first piece in that series.  It's a bit of personal narrative about how I came to be supporting Edwards, and it includes links to a lot of other good diaries about the candidate and his policies.

It's long, so I put it after the jump. I welcome your feedback, and I encourage you to put up diaries telling us why you are supporting your favorite in the race, if you have already decided. 

Listening to John Edwards speak outside his Des Moines campaign headquarters earlier this month, I was as proud as ever to support his candidacy. My reasons for supporting Edwards are too numerous to discuss in one diary, but I want to introduce myself and tell part of that story.

I am a 38-year-old mother of two young boys, living in an older suburb of Des Moines. I grew up here, left Iowa for college, grad school and work, and returned in 2002 when my husband and I were ready to start a family. I've been a Democrat my whole life and been interested in politics since I was a kid. I was proud to fly back to Iowa my freshman year of college to caucus for Paul Simon.

Deciding which candidate to support in a Democratic primary is rarely simple for me. I am not looking for one overriding quality (best policy plans, most reliably progressive, most experienced, best temperament for the job, best ability to communicate, most electable), but for the candidate who has the best combination of these qualities.

I saw most of the Democratic field speak in Iowa more than once in 2002 and 2003. My initial leanings were toward Florida Senator Bob Graham. What he lacked in the charisma/communication department I thought he made up for in other areas. I still think he would have been a good general-election candidate and president. When he failed to catch fire and dropped out of the race early, it took a while for me to decide.

I had ruled out Dean earlier in the year. John Edwards was the best speaker in the field and connected well with audiences. However, I ended up in the John Kerry camp in large part because of his lengthy background (outstanding record on environmental and other progressive issues, Senate Foreign Affairs Committee service). The Edwards campaign of 2003 was touching on a lot of important themes, but I didn't see enough specific proposals about how to address the big problems facing the country.

As I witnessed the tidal wave of momentum toward Edwards in the final weeks before the Iowa caucuses, I noticed a few things. First, when people saw Edwards in person, he was often able to seal the deal, even if people had been leaning toward a different candidate earlier. Second, he seemed to do especially well with suburbanites in their 30s and 40s (a critical swing group). Third, my friends in the sustainable agriculture community told me that he was making the best connection by far with people in the smaller towns and rural areas.

Kerry held on to win Iowa and the nomination. I don't think he ran as bad a campaign as people say he did (and I still think he won Ohio), but no one can deny that his communication problems, and his identity as a northeast liberal, hurt us badly, especially in down-ticket races in much of the country.

Going into this election cycle, I had no idea who I would support for president. I went to hear a lot of the candidates when they came to central Iowa in 2006. When I saw Edwards a couple of times, the way he talked about economic and labor issues caught my attention. I wrote diaries about those speeches here and here.

This diary by RDemocrat lays out a strong case for why Edwards is the best candidate to strengthen organized labor in this country. Academics who study voting behavior have repeatedly shown that belonging to a labor union both makes people more likely to vote and more likely to vote for Democrats.

But those weren't the only things that impressed me when Edwards talked about the disparity between how we tax work and wealth, and the need to strengthen labor unions in this country. He used simple but powerful language. In a different context, I thought jsamuel did a great job articulating Edwards' ability to talk about issues in accessible language:

John Edwards is capable of not only turning progressive ideals into wonderful realistic plans, but he is also capable of advocating for them so that they become mainstream.

Since I decided to support Edwards late last year, he has shown repeatedly that he has outstanding ideas to offer voters, such as:

A detailed, universal health care plan, which has been praised by many who follow this issue closely (including Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman).

An ambitious energy plan, analyzed well here by BruceMcF. He has not just committed to decrease CO2 emissions, he has committed to concrete proposals and is not afraid to say no more subsidies for coal, and no new coal-fired power plants (even when speaking in Marshalltown, Iowa, the site of a proposed new coal-fired power plant).

A detailed proposal to reform the tax system, which would have particular benefits for working people, as RDemocrat has shown.

A commitment to take on abusive lenders, a growing problem.

And of course, a 30-year plan for ending poverty.

Several of Edwards' proposals address issues that particularly important for Democrats as we try to win over swing demographics:

His rural recovery plan addresses the biggest problems affecting those who live in rural or small-town America. In this context, I recommend ManfromMiddletown's excellent diary on electability, complete with lots of maps that show how a candidate who connects well in rural areas puts many more states into play for Democrats.

Edwards' balanced approach to trade is good policy and good politics, which will help in the midwestern swing states.

He has taken a strong stand on food safety and country-of-origin labeling, one of those no-brainers that Congress can't manage to get done because of the undue influence of certain industries. I believe this issue will become more salient, especially with parents of young children.

I will write more about Edwards' campaign in Iowa in future posts. For now, I'll just say that as a volunteer precinct captain, I am happy with the resources Edwards has invested in building up an organization here. His focus on substantive, progressive policies is well-suited to the Iowa caucus-goer. His campaign events have been balanced geographically, hitting counties where he did very well in 2004 as well as counties where he will need to improve his showing considerably.

The events have been managed well; as I waited with many others in the 90-degree heat to kick off Edwards' bus tour of Iowa, campaign staff repeatedly wandered through the crowd offering cool, bottled water. Those details matter.

Thanks for reading. I always enjoy hearing other people's stories about how they ended up in the Edwards camp, so please share those in the comments!

Note: a slightly different version of this post appeared on the front page of MyDD, where I am writing about Edwards on Tuesdays as part of the new “candidate supporting blogger” series.