Edwards: National Bid Echoes'98 Tactics

[Abigale Applewhite]

JOHN EDWARDS | THE MAKING OF A CANDIDATE
National bid echoes '98 tactics
ANNA GRIFFIN
Staff Writer

EDITOR'S NOTE: John Edwards is mounting the most serious presidential campaign by a North Carolinian since Terry Sanford in 1976. This series, which ends today, examines his life and career and is based on interviews with more than 100 friends, family members, colleagues, clients and political and courtroom opponents.

In the winter of 1997, noted Democratic political consultant Gary Pearce went out for Italian food with Jack Cozort, a former N.C. Court of Appeals judge.

Cozort mentioned he had a friend he'd like Pearce to meet. His friend, a neighbor and fellow lawyer, lacked any political experience but needed help in a possible run for the Senate.

"The state Senate?" Pearce asked.

"No," Cozort recalls saying, "the U.S. Senate."

Pearce laughed out loud.

More...much more

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/6572849.htm

[chimpymustgo]

1. What a fabulous series on John Edwards.Thanks for posting Abigail.

The articles have been thoughtful and well-written. Edwards is a very complex man - and an incredible candidate.

[Abigale Applewhite]

2. Thanks you make my day

I am an older lady and just started posting here a few weeks ago, my reason was to let the nation know what a find young man Edwards is. The first time I heard him speak, I said that young man will be president some day.. It is begining to look like the south will be changing their voting pattern in the coming election...hopefull it will be for Edwards.

[JI7]

3. he won in 98

so he must know something. i have always said no serious candidate should dismiss him based on current numbers.

[AP]

4. Why do you want to run?

"I always ask them first, `Why do you want to run?' because if you
can't answer that, you can't do it," said Pearce. "... John may not
have been the experienced politician, but he could answer that
question."

The reason Edwards gave then was essentially the one he now
gives crowds across the country: He spent a career helping broken
children and mourning parents in courtrooms across North
Carolina. In Washington, he can help more people from a larger
stage, bringing fairness to a political process dominated by big
moneyed special interests.

[renie408]

5. Also...

Even though he does not talk about it much, it appears that Edwards political aspirations came after the death of his oldest child, Wade. I do not pretend to know anything on a personal level about Edwards, but being a parent, I can see where that kind of personal tragedy would make you rethink why you are here and what you can do for the world.

[AP]

6. JFK lost a brother and Clinton lost a father.

I read an interview with Clinton in which he said that people who lose someone close feel like they have to work really hard to make every moment count. I'm not capturing the essence of what Clinton said, but his point was that you get a sense of how fleeting life is...

[chimpymustgo]

7. I feel like Edwards really wants to make the country better.

He's not driven by opportunism, inevitability, or ego. He wants to give his heart and soul to improving opportunities for Americans, improving odds, and lives.

[AP]

8. I get that visceral feeling with Edwards more than any other

candidate.

Did you read the article about why Edwards got interested in Elizabeth Edwards? It reminded my of Clinton. There's something really interesting about a guy who is attracted to the smart, confindent, competent girl. I mean, what's a guy like that trying to do? He's not looking for a free ride, 'cause he works hard himself. And he's certainly not superficial. It's just like, man, this guy has his head on straight.

I read all these articles and I find them fascinating. It would be interesting to discuss them, because they raise some good questions. But, on the whole, I read them and I think there is nobody else in politics today who is like this. This is an earnest guy who has seen what America is from more angles than most people, and he's managed to keep his priorities almost exactly right, and he seems to be driven by something that is very interesting.

[renie408]

9. Did you know...

that she is a couple of years older than him?

I am from NC and have known since he started running campaign ads for Senator that he was something more than that. I swear, after I saw the first ad he ran on TV here, I turned to my husband and said, "Within the next ten years, that man is going to run for President." And I have heard him speak and I am telling you, once more people do, he will not be as far behind as he is.

I also think that it is a telling thing that mostly what people can come up with to say about him is that he is young.

[AP]

10. When he stands on a stage next to Bush, his youthful appearance will

be an asset.

One way to beat Republicans is to make them seem like yesterday's news. Bush is looking older and more haggard and like his father every day. Soon he'll throw up in Koizumo's lap and it'll be all over. People will look at Edwards and think, yes, that's the future, whereas Bush is the past.

I'm also thinking -- and I'm trying to be funny here -- that, if That '70s Show does really well this year and next year, it'll be good for Edwards 'cause, reading his biography makes me nostalgic for the 70s. It's funny how President tend to stand for, and be reflections of America 30-40 years earlier -- Clinton was about the 60s, GHWB was about the 40s, Reagan was about the 50s. GWB was supposed to be about the 50s, but I guess the reality is that he's about the coked-up 70s and 80s.

[loyalsister]

11. This may have something to do with it

His son wrote this essay and won a national award. Jesse Helms read the essay on the Senate floor as a eulogy. It's truly amazing! In some ways, it seems like an astonishing reversal. It's sort of like the father carrying out the dreams of the son. I got it a long time ago, and don't have the link any longer. I think, since it was read on the floor it may be okay for circulation.

Fancy Clothes and Overalls
By: Lucius Wade Edwards

A little boy and his father walk into a firehouse. He smiles at people standing outside. Some hand pamphlets to his father. They stand in line. Finally, they go together into a small booth, pull the curtain closed, and vote. His father holds the boy up and shows him which levers to move.

"We're ready, Wade. Pull the big lever now."

With both hands, the boy pulls the lever. There it is: the sound of voting. The curtain opens. The boy smiles at an old woman leaving another booth and at a mother and daughter getting into line. He is not certain exactly what they have done. He only knows that he and his father have done something important. They have voted.

The scene takes place all over the country.

"Pull the lever, Yolanda."

"Drop the ballot in the box for me Pedro."

Wades, Yolandas, Pedros, Nikitas, and Chuis all over the United States are learning the same lesson: the satisfaction, pride, importance, and habit of voting. I have always gone with my parents to vote. Sometimes the lines are long. There are faces of old people and young people, voices of native North Carolinians in southern drawls and voices of naturalized citizens with their foreign accents. There are people in fancy clothes and others dressed in overalls. Each has exactly the same one vote. Each has exactly the same say in the election. There is no place in America where equality means as much as in the voting booth.

My father took me that day to the firehouse. Soon I will be voting. It is a responsibility and a right. It is also an exciting national experience. Voters have different backgrounds, dreams, and experiences, but that is the whole point of voting. Different voices are heard.

As I get close to the time when I can register and vote, it is exciting. I become one of the voices. I know I will vote in every election. I know that someday I will bring my son with me and introduce him to one of the great American experiences: voting.

[chimpymustgo]

12. Loyalsister, where did you find this?

Can you post it in General Discussion?

It speaks volumes about a man, and a mission that came to him.

[loyalsister]

13. I can't remember

where I found it. It was a year or more ago. I'll be glad to post in GD. I agree that it speaks a great deal about him.

[renie408]

14. I found this...

http://www.geocities.com/nctechwriter/WEF/edit.html

It says that Elizabeth Edwards was a finalist in a similar essay contest thirty years before her son.

[chimpymustgo]

15. Renie, thanks for the post on Wade Edwards.

His incredible, short life tells us a lot about his mother and father. Can you imagine them in the White House, helping to heal and lead our country?

[AP]

16. Florida 2000 probably would have been a big disappointment for Wade.