What’s the alternative to rational policy debate?

Let’s ask John Edwards.

Better yet, let’s have U.S. News ask John Edwards:

Has your campaign moved from an emotional appeal to Iowa voters that proved effective in 2004 to a more cerebral, issues-oriented approach?

I think it’s the opposite. I think what you’re seeing from me now is coming, all of it, from here [touches heart]. It is true that I have very specific, substantive policy proposals that caucusgoers insist on. And that is a distinction from 2004. But when I talk about the outrage that I feel, there is nothing intellectual about that. It’s very real.