LAT: "Hope Is on the Way," Edwards Assures Latinos in Los Angeles

[DeepModem Mom]

THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
'Hope Is On the Way,' Edwards Assures Latinos in Los Angeles

By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer


Campaigning in Los Angeles for the first time since being tapped as Sen. John F. Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards on Friday employed high-flying rhetoric and the image of a struggling mother in appealing for support from Latino voters.

The centerpiece of Edwards' 24-hour stay in the city was an address Friday night in Universal City to leaders of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. The speech was part of a continuing effort by Kerry's presidential campaign to reach out to Latinos, following complaints from some leaders that the important voting group was receiving too little attention....

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(Edwards) described a hardworking — though hypothetical — mother struggling to keep her family together while holding down two jobs and waiting for her husband, a National Guardsman, to return home from Iraq.

The mother — which Edwards has said was a composite of people he had met on the campaign trail — was a standard part of his speeches during his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. He would refer to her to underscore his contention that the nation had become divided into "two Americas … one America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward."

In his remarks Friday, Edwards described the mother as "working two jobs to pay the rent and feed and clothe her kids."...."But tonight there's something we want to say to her," Edwards told the crowd. "She is not alone. We see her; we hear her voice. We will embrace her; we will lift her up."

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He repeated the phrase "hope is on the way" several times, invoking a series of images of Americans in need. The refrain won loud applause, whoops and whistles from the audience at the Universal City Hilton and Towers....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-edwards17jul17,1,4535967.story?coll=la-home-politics

[msanger]

1. Hope is on the way

Could this become the Kerry/Edwards theme?
It sure resonates with me.

My sister was a Dean supporter in Iowa until she heard Edwards speak in person. After listening to him she said she never felt so hopefully about her future and our future as a country.