John Edwards addressed followers during his ongoing battle for second place in the caucuses by charging them to leave America better than they found it.

He characterized his primary rivals as "two candidates who thought their money would make them inevitable," but said that Americans standing for change would be unstoppable.

"We're better than this," Edwards said. "What happened tonight is that the Iowa caucus goers said 'We want something different.'"

Edwards' Iowa communications director Dan Leistikow said the high caucus turnout numbers are proof that voters are looking for change.

"The debate really is what kind of change do we want in this country," he said. "We think John Edwards represents the kind of change people want."

Leistikow said the North Carolina Dem's close finish despite being outspent 5-1 by his two main rivals shows the strength of his message, and he scoffed at pundit predictions that the loss tonight is the beginning of the end for Edwards.

"The thing we learned in Iowa is that these contests aren't decided by pundits, they're decided by caucus-goers and voters," he said.

Labels: Democrats