John Edwards comes home to Chapel Hill and crowd of 5000

[mnhtnbb]

I waited for almost two hours, along with a crowd of several thousand, to greet John Edwards at a rally on the return of his announcement tour.

This man IS the next President of the United States.

Many of you know I was a Deaniac; I think this guy has the goods to take it all the way to the White House this time. He reminds me of the Kennedy's--both JFK and Robert. His focus on getting people to "take responsibility" NOW to change America in our local communities--and throughout the US--reminds me of the famous "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." His focus on poverty is reminiscent of Bobby's interest in the same problem almost 40 years ago!

He spoke for about 1/2 hour, without notes. He is passionate about returning the US to moral leadership in the world. He wants universal health care for Americans. He wants the US to lead on global warming
(if Al Gore believes him, I think that takes Gore out of the race).
He wants us to start getting OUT of Iraq, because that is a signal of our intention to leave Iraq. He made it very clear that he doesn't support the McCain proposals to up the troops. And he also asks the pragmatic question, "where would they come from?"

My husband and I stood in the crowd about 15 yards from the stage.
John looks terrific; Elizabeth looks healthy (and like she's lost some weight). The kids are as cute as ever and Cate is a knock-out!

If you get a chance to see him in person, I recommend it, because I think you're going to be seeing the next President of the United States.

Sorry I don't have any pix--I forgot my camera!

[Catchawave]

1. Thanks for sharing!

I just posted a link to the live blog:

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2006/12/30/155853/33

Wish I could have been there too :hi:

[mnhtnbb]

3. Your're welcome. I'm really going to be interested to see how the local press

treats him when I KNOW what was said and how many people were there.

[Catchawave]

4. News Observer is usally pretty kind to him

but they're still the MSM. I'd trust the internet blogs more :)

[mnhtnbb]

21. Here's the News-Observer story in Sunday paper

http://www.newsobserver.com/692/story/527122.html

[Catchawave]

22. That was pretty good...thanks...

I'm surprised they didn't find "one" really negative comment, which most political articles contain for balance. Sounds like those undecideds who showed up, came with an open mind :D

[mnhtnbb]

27. Here's the Durham-Herald Story--even better.

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-804272.cfm

[mnhtnbb]

12. The reporter in the video link spends more time telling what Edwards was wearing

than reporting on what he said--or crowd reaction--or interviewing
crowd members.

That's how you kill a candidate. Who cares what he was wearing?

[tblue]

2. I'll tell you, I've seen him and he is electrifying. He is a born ORATOR. And here's

something else. True story: I'm a Clarkie, and in NH in the prmaries in '04, I saw a woman go up to an Edwards campaigner and say, "I am a lifelong Republican and I'm very conservative, but I could really see myself voting for John Edwards." Of course, she ignored all us Clarkies, Deaniacs, Kerryites, etc. But she was downright passionate about Edwards. The 'two Americas' speech resonates far and wide. And nobody talks about the poor as often and as surely as John Edwards. I respect him so much for that. I could get very excited about him.

[Catchawave]

5. That's nice you keep an open mind....

..we have a very talented Democratic field right now. Sometimes DU can be pretty hard on him, which is a shame :(

[goclark]

31. I agree totally ~ all of our Democrats should be

enouraged and thanks for giving of their time away from family to participate in the debate.

goclark is an original Clarkie and I love Obama, Clark, Edwards and all the rest other than Joey L. .

I had the thrill of meeting Edwards in 04 and he is magic.

[mnhtnbb]

9. Edwards is really not a progressive. He's on the fence about gay marriage...

but supports civil unions. He has the baggage of voting for the Iraq War (even though he now admits that was a mistake) and he helped write the Patriot Act--although he's now talking about individual liberties and respect for civil liberties.

So I could see how he might appeal to a Republican.

[laureloak]

14. He wrote the sunset clause, not the Patriot Act. n/t

[mnhtnbb]

15. Uh, take a look at his responses in this link from the 2004 race.. I interpret it

to mean that he contributed to the Patriot Act, and opposed repealing the Sunset clause of the Patriot Act.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2004/John_Edwards_Civil_Rights.htm

[laureloak]

17. There's nothing in your link to dispute what I said.

He wrote the sunset clause of the Patriot Act. Of course he opposed repealing it.

[mnhtnbb]

18. I stand corrected. Just did a little more research.

Apparently a protege of Ashcroft's wrote most of the Patriot Act.
I think my sense that Edwards participated was left over from
knowing how fully he supported it when first passed.

[laureloak]

19. I don't think he was all that supportive of it either, thus the sunset.

[Shakespeare]

28. You make an excellent point--he has the ability to appeal to both sides of the aisle.

It's a rare, rare politician who can do that. Dennis Kucinich, our beloved leftie candidate, was asked (I think on the Daily Show) which of the other candidates in 2004 he really liked, who he'd vote for if he wasn't running. Without hesitation, he said Edwards. That Kucinich and a hardcore rightwinger can both be drawn to a candidate like Edwards is a very, very good thing.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Here's a link to video from local TV station--reporting crowd of 5000.

http://www.wral.com/

[mnhtnbb]

7. the headline on the news story

"Presidential hopeful John Edwards, returning to the scene of his only primary victory in his 2004 bid, said Saturday that fellow Democrats should focus on running Congress rather than trying to impeach President Bush."

must have been taken from prepared text given to press, because Edwards said not one word about impeachment or Dems running Congress at the Chapel Hill rally. My husband even remarked about it--and I responded that what's the point? He's not going to be running against Bush.

[jcrew2001]

8. da goods

Yeah, I also think Edwards has what it takes to be president. He's a disciplined speaker and won't make the mistakes that have hurt Kerry. He's the white male candidate and has a good chance of beating Hillary. Although it would be great to see a woman president and though I respect Hillary, I think Edwards can beat her, she has the money advantage, but would she be willing to go negative on Edwards - who's a favorite of Bill's. I don't think Obama will run, even though he's having a grand time right now, I just don't think he can win.

If Edwards goes against McCain, McCain will have the early advantage, but I believe that Johnny can win over the Southern voters.

[unc70]

26. Primary win in SC, not NC -- earlier stop in Columbia, SC

Report probably co-mingled the previous stop in Columbia, SC where he had won a primary. Might explain the differences in his remarks. He also answered questions there -- town hall format.

The reporting on the various stops was interesting at wral.com. I believe they were using AP for some of it. The Nevada report stated that he had appeared previously in NH before a crowd of 750, less than half the number who had greeted Obama on his visit. The actual story filed from NH had also indicated that Edwards had initially spoken to an even larger crowd waiting outside who were unable to get into the venue. That meant that at least as many showed up to hear Edwards as had to hear Obama.

I was at the Chapel Hill rally and can confirm a crowd of 4-5 thousand. Have pictures and a little video to back up the estimate.

[Rosco T.]

10. "if Al Gore believes him, I think that takes Gore out of the race"

or it makes Gore the head of the EPA to do the job.

and who else thinks that Clark is now the odds on fav for VP with Edwards?

Edwards/Clark - I can do that.

[mnhtnbb]

11. Of course, when Gore endorsed Dean...that was the beginning of the end for Dean.

Maybe Gore should endorse Hillary!

[mnhtnbb]

13. Will somebody please give this a 5th vote?

Another post is asking the question, why can't Edwards get media attention?

I think it's important to see how the hometown TV treated this:
they spent more time on his clothes than on what he was saying.

I went to see him precisely because I wanted to see him in person--without the filter of TV. And I think it's important to get the word out for people to see him in person.

[mnhtnbb]

16. Thanks, whoever you are!

[mnhtnbb]

20. For a good summary of John's speech see this link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3035278&mesg_id=3035278

[noamnety]

23. Some questions

(And I am asking them on several candidate threads tonight, not just singling out Edwards)

Has he talked about why he voted for the Bush Energy Policy, and if he has any regrets about that?
Is there an explanation of why he voted to defund renewable and solar energy in 99?
Where does he stand on marriage rights?

(I will add that I strongly oppose his stance on the death penalty, which I believe is racist and violates human rights, however, I don't think there's much to clarify in his position there.)

[AP]

24. A note about the death penalty...

Clinton didn't give clemency to a retarded man during his first campaign for president -- Ricky Ray Rector. It was disgusting. Clinton was making the point that he wasn't soft on crime and used Rector as an example.

However, when he was president, he imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty.

[noamnety]

25. Well, that IS disgusting

Killing a disabled person for political advantage is beyond despicable.

I'm gonna assume you aren't implying Edwards is misrepresenting his positions on certain issues just to get elected, that would be disturbing. (And I don't think accurate.)

[Shakespeare]

29. Some answers

I haven't seen him talk about his vote for the Bush energy policy, but for the last few months, he never fails to mention Gore and that we urgently need to take action (says Gore knows more than most people on the planet about global warming, says he agrees 100 percent with Gore's recommendations).

As far as marriage rights, he's not exactly where I'd like him to be on the issue, but I do think he's persuadable--he's for civil unions, and hasn't ruled out supporting gay marriage, just says "I'm not quite there yet." Elizabeth, though she chooses her words very carefully, seems to support gay marriage.

Edwards has also been doing something that leaves me almost teary-eyed with relief: he utters the words "universal healthcare" repeatedly in every interview I've seen the last few weeks.

So far, I'm really liking him.

[mnhtnbb]

30. He is in favor of civil unions, but quite honest that he isn't ready

to embrace marriage rights for gays. He talked openly about it during his interview with Stephanopolous yesterday on ABC's "This Week". Says he has difficulty due to his Southern Baptist upbringing.

Clearly, Elizabeth disagrees with him. I'm not so sure this isn't
a positive for him with a lot of southerners who have a hard time letting go of their religious upbringing--but may eventually come around to recognizing what's the right thing to do.

Personally--I have no issue with marriage rights for gays. I have a gay son. Giving him the right to marry the love of his life some day in no way threatens my marriage.

I agree with Elizabeth that this won't be an issue in 20 years. Would I like to see it tomorrow? Yes. Would I not vote for someone because
he admits he can't get past his upbringing? No. There are other things I like about Edwards--even though I was NOT an Edwards fan in '04.