NASHUA, N.H. — If politics, as it’s often described, is a horse race then does it pay to be a horse?

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic U.S. presidential contender John Edwards, seems to think so.

“John is like Seabiscuit, isn’t he?” she asked voters, comparing her husband to a famed U.S. race horse of the late 1930s and subject of a book and 2003 Academy Award-nominated film.

After a lackluster start to his career, the horse won Americans’ hearts by his unorthodox style of racing — Seabiscuit did best when he trailed his opponent for most of a race, coming from behind only in the final sprint. The strategy proved so effective that his jockey would intentionally hold him back early on, even in the most important races.

“Seabiscuit was the horse of the working class …and ridden by someone who wasn’t supposed to be able to make it, but that’s what this campaign is about isn’t it?” Elizabeth Edwards said of her husband. “It’s the fellow who wasn’t supposed to be able to make it.”

For his part, Edwards the candidate, who describes himself as an “underdog” in the race against better-funded Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, placed a better-than-expected second in Thursday’s Iowa caucus, embraced the comparison.

“I kind of like the Seabiscuit thing,” Edwards said. “We are Seabiscuit.”

– Photo by Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

CONWAY, New Hampshire — Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards may have made millions of dollars as a plaintiff’s attorney suing big U.S. corporations, but he wants voters to know that he’s no city slicker.

Campaigning in Conway, a town of 9,200 in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, Edwards argued that his Southern drawl would make him a more appealing candidate to rural voters.

“The last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both talked like me,” the former North Carolina senator and son of a textile-mill worker said, trying to link himself to their good fortunes.

“I’m from small town America and that’s a place where we usually have trouble,” he said of the Democratic party. “There’s nowhere in America that I can’t go and campaign with our congressional candidates and not only not be a drag on them but actually help them. And that makes a difference.”

Edwards was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004 but his ticket did not win.  And, voters who turned out to hear his pitch on Wednesday were mixed on whether the drawl would really matter.

“I like it,” said Tom Wright, of Intervale, New Hampshire, who said he planned to vote for Edwards. “My opinion is he’s more electable than all the other leading candidates.”

Hope Nusbaum, a homemaker from Conway, said that a candidate’s accent would not influence her thinking.

“For me, it does not make a difference,” said Nusbaum, who said she was leaning towards Edwards but had not yet made her final decision for the Jan. 8 primary. “He could come from New York City and if he still had these ideas, I’d still vote for him.”

– Photo credit: Reuters/Scott Malone

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Republican Rudy Giuliani are the top choices among voters aged 18 to 24, a poll by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found.  But young people are not entirely satisfied with the two major parties — 37 percent said that they are doing such a poor job that a third major party is needed. 

Third-party candidates have played a minor but important role in recent U.S. presidential elections, with Democrats blaming Ralph Nader’s 2000 Green Party run as contributing to George W. Bush’s winning of the White House.  Eight years earlier, businessman Ross Perot had made a much stronger showing, drawing some 19 percent of the vote.  

The poll finding raises the question of what response New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — who is frequently cited as a possible wild card in the 2008 race, though he has said he is not running — would meet from young voters. 

Obama, an Illinois senator, had the support of 38 percent of young Democratic voters, ahead of 33 percent supporting New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, among the 2,526 U.S. citizens aged 18 to 24 polled  from Oct. 28 through Nov. 9. Former New York City Mayor Giuliani, with 26 percent of young Republicans’ support, lead Arizona Sen. John McCain, with 15 percent. (Photo by TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS)

Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona is pulling in some star power on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, enlisting Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling at an event in Manchester today to shore up support for his party’s presidential nomination in the state that helps kick off the 2008 White House race. 

Schilling, 41, is beloved by locals for taking the Red Sox to the championships twice in the last four years, shattering an 86-year-drought for New England’s only Major League Baseball team.

Fans in particular lionize him for fighting through pain — including a 2004 playoff game when he played with a damaged tendon in his foot, remaining on the mound even as blood trickled from his sock, which can now be found in the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum. 

McCain has been trailing Mitt Romney, former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, in recent opinion polls of New Hampshire voters.

Schilling last month said he was backing McCain’s bid for the White House, writing on his blog, “This man will stick to his guns, and be himself, regardless of pressures from outside influences.”

– Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder