Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards called attention to the growing divide between moneyed corporate interests and working man’s values at a rally in Sioux City Sunday night

SIOUX CITY, Iowa, 9:43 p.m. — Tom Petty must have been proud. And Bruce Springsteen. And John Mellencamp and John Fogerty.

Elizabeth Edwards’ introduction of her husband was almost superfluous after the battery of American classic-rock anthems that preceded it – the crowd got the message: John Edwards stands for you. And America.

The former senator from North Carolina held the floor of the Sioux City Convention Center for almost an hour Sunday night, preaching classic themes of right and wrong, good and evil and the working man against the corporation.

“My belief is that corporate greed has infected every part of the government,” Edwards said. “When you go to caucus on Thursday night, you better send a fighter into that arena.”

Edwards claims to be just that fighter. Drawing on his 20 years as a trial lawyer in North Carolina, Edwards touched on health care, college tuition fees and pork-barrel spending in his denouncement of moneyed corporate interests that he said “have a stranglehold on your democracy.”

The crowd loved it. Edwards was interrupted with applause time and time again — once by a standing ovation in the middle of his prepared remarks.

“I thought he was truthful and honest,” Sioux City resident Gary Turbes said at the end of the event. “He’s got a vision for the future.”

–Zack Abrahamson