DES MOINES—John Edwards should be in a good mood heading into a weekend of campaigning. He's got his family with him.

Asked the other day what was the most difficult thing about campaigning for president, Edwards said it was being separated from his family, Rob Christensen reports.

On Thursday, Edwards was joined on the campaign trail by his wife Elizabeth, his two children, Emma Claire, and Jack 7 and his parents Wallace and Bobbi. Elizabeth, who has largely been absent from the campaign trail in recent weeks, introduced Edwards in Indianola.

Edwards stumps today in Manchester and Elkader.

In an effort to cut into Hillary Clinton's strong support among women voters,  the Edwards campaign will hold a teleconfernce this morning featuring Kate Michelman, a past president of NARAL and a senior Edwards campaign advisor as well as a number of women elected officials.

Emma Claire Edwards was just teasing her father at that Iowa event.

According to Elizabeth Edwards, her 9-year-old daughter pointed to a picture of Sen. Hillary Clinton — and then dear ol' dad — when asked who her favorite presidential candidate was as a joke.

It was Emma Claire, who pointed to a Hillary pin slyly and then, smiling pointed to her father. A nine-year sense of humor — you would have thought Matt Drudge would have been able to pick up on that.

The explanation comes from a comment on Sparrowblog, the blog of, um, a fictional character created by the author of a teen novel called "First Daughter."

Coincidentally or not, the book is about a young girl causing trouble for her father's presidential campaign.

John Edwards' youngest daughter may need to talk to a political consultant.

According to a column in the West Branch Times, Emma Claire Edwards joined her brother Jack and her mother, Elizabeth, at the Hometown Days Carnival in Iowa Saturday.

There, they stopped at a Little League game, where the nine-year old casually mentioned that her softball team is named the Hawkeyes — coincidentally also the mascot of the University of Iowa.

So far, so good. But things went awry shortly after that, according to writer Rob Poggenklass:

When the Edwardses visited the Cedar County Democrats’ tent, Mrs. Edwards asked her daughter which of the presidential candidates she liked best.

Did she point to dear old Dad? No, she pointed to Hillary Clinton.

Hat Tip: Talking Points Memo