Senator Edwards had this to say about being underestimated:

[AP]

Also on Thursday, Randal Archibald of the New York Times wrote about Sen. Edwards’ personal appeal:
...

"Is he really going to be able to make it in college? Will he really be able to make it in law school? When he became a lawyer, can this young guy go out and fight these armies of much more experienced lawyers who represent insurance companies? When I ran for the Senate it was the same thing. He's never run for office. Inexperienced. Is he ready for this? Yeah, I was ready, I was ready to compete, and it became clear in the campaign I was ready."

http://blog.johnedwards2004.com/article.pl?newsid=&sid=03/12/01/1123230&mode=nested&commentsort=1

[spooky3]

1. go John! Here's a link on VP possibilities involving him & others...

The W. Post printed the absolutely least flattering photo of him it could possibly find in an article today, yet said almost nothing about him in the accompanying article. Tell me they have no agenda...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23953-2003Nov30.html

Unfortunately, apparently the photo was in the print edition only.

[a_lil_wall_fly]

4. This qoute from the link is truly important you all

"Many in other parts of the country wonder why the first votes have to be cast here and nowhere else. The gossip is that New Hampshire is too little (pop. 1.2 million), too white (95 percent), too WASP New England and too taciturn to deserve a prize like the first primary."

NH is not the status quo for the whole country. Therefore Iowa and SC will be the true testing grounds for all nine candidates--NOT NH. So certian supporters of certian candidates should focus on the demographics of the first couple caucuses/primaries relatively to the demographics of the whole country.

[Jerseycoa]

2. I watched him

with voters in Oklahoma last night on c-Span. He really does have something that connects on a basic human level. Although I thought he did super in the last debate, seeing him out on the trail, I was more impressed somehow.

[AP]

3. I like to think that I'm impervious to being swayed by emotions,

however, I saw Edwards in person give a talk at a restaurant. He walked around and shook hands with the governor and with the state rep for the district, and he did a really nice job, but you can't help but feel sorry for politicians who have to do that. You never know what people are going to say, and you're interrupting them eating. Some of them are there for you and some aren't. In any event, Edwards did that part nicely. Nothing embarassing happened, but it's still hard to watch because you never know what's going to happen.

So, after the meet and greet, Edwards gave a speech, and it was great. I'm sure a lot of people weren't sure of what he was all about before he started talking, but they were very sure of what he was all about when he was done. People walking by stopped and listened, and were very enthusiastic (because Edward is positive, and he's funny, and he's so right-on on the issues).

Now, after the speech, I thought, that's great. But that still wasn't the best thing I saw. As Edwards was leaving, a guy walked up to him about 5 yards from the car Edwards was heading towards. This guy looked like he was an immigrant. He might have been an employee at the restaurant. He stopped Edwards and talked to him for, like 5 minutes. When this guy started talking he looked really upset. I have no idea what he talked about, but, Edwards listened to him for a couple minutes. Then Edwards started talking to him. Then the expression on the guy's face started to change. He still looked sad, but he nodded a lot and he listened to Edwards. They both shook hands and nodded to each other, and think the guy stepped aside and talked to one of the campaign workers.

I'm sure that all the candidates have had moments like that on the campaign trail. Nonetheless, I feel like I saw the complete arc of what's great about Edwards. He connects pretty well to the room, walking around, shaking hands, and on a very broad superficial way (and I don't mean that as a perjorative -- you just can't get deep shaking hands and saying hello) people like him. Then he sets out his policies, and people like him even more. However, the real connection is when you listen to the policies and then things click on a very personal level. That this (possibly) immigrant then felt that, after listening to the policies, he could then connect with Edwards on a personal level, sort of got to the essense of what's great about Edwards. And then, it doesn't stop there. Edwards was actually able to listen (for a long time) and understand what this guy's problem was and then give him some advice or explanation which made sense to the guy -- well that's what it's all about, I feel.

And I have to emphasize, this all happened outside the view of cameras. It was the moment after the press turned away it was just two human beings relating.

I also want to emphasize that this entire observation was based on my perception of what was going on. I have no idea what the guy said. Nonetheless, it was very very interesting.