Video: Tim Robbins stumps for Edwards

To go with my story in today's paper about former Sen. John Edwards on the stump in Iowa, here is some video of actor/activist Tim Robbins campaigning with Edwards yesterday.\ \ \ This first clip shows Oscar-winner Robbins talking about the goodness of the American people and pondering the nation's forefathers' vision for the country.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ This clip shows Robbins saying that pundits do voters a disservice when they cover the presidential primary contest as if it's a two-person race.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Seen here in Grinnell, Robbins outlines the problem with a broken media, celebrity culture and people too consumed with the latest "pop tarts" scandal.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ (Ironically as I wrote this, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann was doing a several-minute piece on Britney.)\ \ \ \ \ \ \ Here's Robbins' main argument for why Edwards would be the best president.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ After the event in Grinnell, I briefly interviewed Robbins, asking him if he worries if Democrats will disappoint if they win the White House but fail to end the war.\ \ \ Robbins praised Edwards for promising to bring the troops home and singled out Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Republican Rep. Ron Paul as the other 2008 candidates who would truly end the war.\ \ \ "I don't worry because I know the only way we're going to get change is by shifting the political party in power," Robbins told me.\ \ \ Robbins was a major attraction at the events yesterday. A security guard from Grinnell grinned when asked if he was an undecided voter there to consider Edwards and pulled a copy of the "The Shawshank Redemption" from his pocket. "I'm here to get Tim's autograph," he said.\ \ \ In Iowa City, dozens stopped the actor to pose for photos, and after one man snapped a picture as he was trying to leave, a distracted Robbins nearly walked into a tow truck as he hurried to jump on Edwards' Main Street Express.\ \ \ Finally, here's a silly video I shot earlier today after surfacing from the big ice storm that hit Eastern Iowa.\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ — Christina Bellantoni, national political reporter, The Washington Times