According to a recent Associate Press/Ipsos Public Affairs national poll, Edwards is trailing frontrunner Hillary Clinton by 33 points. Despite these numbers, Edwards remains confident her husband can win. She pointed out that at this time four years ago the press had anointed Howard Dean as the Democrat's candidate, only to see his campaign collapse right before the New Hampshire primary.
"Neither Iowa or New Hampshire care about how much money you raise or the national polls," Edwards said. "They care about your sincerity. The press has already anointed Senator Clinton as winner. We know the anointment means nothing; it's the anointment by the primary-goers of New Hampshire who will determine the race."
During the talk, Edwards criticized Hillary Clinton for voting with the Republicans to declare the Iranian National Guard a terrorist organization. She and her husband were afraid the vote would be the first step towards a military strike on Iran.
"The people voted in last year's election to get our soldiers out of Iraq," Edwards said. "Congress is not flexing their muscle; they're caving. On Iraq and Iran, they didn't get behind the people."
According to Edwards, Clinton has already switched from campaigning in the primary election to campaigning in the national one, and has abandoned the Democratic base. She believes that if elected into office, Clinton would not stay true to the values of the Democratic party.
"The Clintons were willing to fight the Democrats on NAFTA," Edwards said. "But not the Republicans on universal health care."
What separates John Edwards from Clinton and other candidates is the strength of his convictions, she said. As the son of a textile mill worker, John Edwards directly felt the negative effects of free trade when his father's factory was closed due to competition from China.
John Edwards also experienced the effects of not being able to afford health coverage. After his father quit his job at the factory he was not able to afford health care. His mother had to quit her job at an antique store and join the postal service in order to get health insurance for the family.
"John's support for his policies is the inevitable result of his life story. When he talks about trade, he is talking about his hometown," Edwards said. "What that means is we get someone deeply committed to these ideas. John will not abandon his policies."
Despite Edwards' low poll numbers, Elizabeth credits her husband's campaign for pushing the other campaigns to stay true to liberal values. She pointed out that Edwards was the first major candidate to present a plan for universal health coverage and cutting carbon emissions, only to see Hillary Clinton and Obama adopt similar policies months later. Playing off one of Clinton's campaign slogans, Edwards said that Clinton would still be holding a "national conversation" to see if there was a consensus for universal health care.
Even if he does lose the primary, Edwards said that there was no chance that John would be a vice-presidential candidate again. During the last election she claimed that she and her husband disagreed with aspects of the Kerry campaign strategy, and they did not want to go down that route again.
