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I've never been to Iowa, but I assume "lost in the cornfields" is not a good place to be.

But that's John Edwards' presidential campaign, Newsweek reports in its current issue.

The lead:

"Is John Edwards in trouble in Iowa? Peg Dunbar thinks so. She signed up as a county chair for Edwards in the northeastern town of Waverly earlier this year, after backing the former senator's campaign in 2004. Now she has changed her mind and switched to Hillary Clinton. "John Edwards has been in Iowa for four and a half years and he's in third place," she says. "He should be in first place. Granted, it's very, very close. But I don't see him going anywhere and I don't go with a loser."

The Iowa caucuses are still several weeks away, so Edwards hasn't lost yet. But, because he's spent so much time out in the cornfields, he really needs to win. He's gambled on a strong showing there. Why is he failing?

I'd guess three reasons.

First, he's veered too far to the left politically. The most liberal of the Democrats would be the least likely to win a general election.

Second, his personal contradictions and hypocrisies. He hammers on the rich vs. poor theme while conspicuously living the life of the very rich.

And third, the "four-and-a-half years" in Iowa has become a detriment. He's a full-time campaigner while rivals Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and others are actually working. Clinton and Obama have won Senate election campaigns since Edwards began running for president the first time back in 2002 or 2003. Edwards hasn't won an election since 1998.

Edwards still might have had a good chance to position himself as the alternative to Hillary if it hadn't been for Obama. Now the Illinois senator has taken that place. He's the fresh face of this campaign. Edwards had that role in 2004. He still couldn't overtake John Kerry, just as Obama probably won't catch Clinton this time. But now Edwards is much farther behind the leader, and he's running out of time to gain ground.

If he finishes third in Iowa, his campaign probably won't last very long into 2008.

Edwards became infected with the presidential bug about halfway through his first, and only, term in the Senate. He should have shaken it off. If he'd concentrated on doing his job, he might have become an effective senator for North Carolina, won re-election in 2004 and gained enough credibility to sustain a successful presidential campaign later.

Update: MSNBC carries this New York Times report on Edwards' Iowa campaign.

A key quote from Gordon Fischer, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, about Edwards' "attack dog" demeaner this time:

"It really made me question his authenticity as a person and as a candidate. I wasn't sure which John Edwards was the real John Edwards. Was it the Southern moderate of 2004 or the full-throated liberal of 2008?"

Many North Carolinians who helped elect Edwards to the Senate in 1998 might not recognize the Iowa version today.