Edwards already at do-or-die stage of presidential campaign

CHARLES CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Jennifer Boggs' eyes are red with tears as she begs Sen. John Edwards to help her teenage son. The North Carolina lawmaker hugs her around the neck and whispers, "I'm here to help."

"This is exactly why I'm running for president of the United States," Edwards says as Democratic activists file out of his town hall meeting. "I want to do something about mental health care for your son, for everybody's son."

It was the kind of moment Edwards' advisers have been promising since the freshman lawmaker began his longshot bid for the presidency.

Though one of the most inexperience candidates in the nine-person Democratic field, Edwards comes equipped with some of the tools that vaulted Bill Clinton to the presidency -- Southern charm, an up-from-the-bootstraps biography, good looks and ability to convince voters that he feels their pain.

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This month he began airing about $500,000 worth of ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states where Democrats will make their first choices early next year. The ads, scheduled to run for about four weeks, focus on his working-class upbringing, his policies to help the middle class and his argument that President Bush favors wealth over hard work.

-snip-

He is combating the criticism with a set of policy initiatives that may be the most creative and detailed of the field. Edwards wants to offer free tuition to freshman college students willing to work 10 hours a week. Parents would be required to insure their children under a health care plan that offered them tax incentives.

Both initiatives trace Clinton's effort to appeal to the Democrats' middle-class roots by offering new government programs while assuring swing voters that accountability comes with the spending.

Family on board

Still, the campaign is driven as much by Edwards' personality as his policies. That is why his schedule is loaded with town hall meetings that put him in close contact with voters. It may also be why his bus tours include his wife, Elizabeth, and two of their children -- Emma Claire, 5, and Jack, 3.

Emma Claire interrupted her father's speech Thursday by pulling free of her mother's arms and tapping her father on the hip. Edwards tousled her hair as he spoke to 45 people at an Elks Club in Iowa Falls.

A few minutes later, Emma Claire tiptoed to her father again. "Let Daddy talk, sweetie," he said as the audience cooed.

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http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/14/edwards.ap/

*****

Wonderful article about this fantastic candidate.

You know that I definitely don't put personality over policy.;-)

The whole "son of a sharecropper" populism never appealed to me much. In fact, I find it pretty annoying. I wish that Edwards had run as a giant-killer lawyer, rather than leaning so hard on his upbringing. He seems to be a decent guy. If it were 2000 or 1996 even I may have gone for him. He's a hell of a speaker. But after 9-11, I want someone a little more engaged on foreign policy. That may be from living across the river from the WTC, but I want someone who knows how to engage the world again.

... by bush's lies on the war. just like Edwards.

But after 9-11, I want someone a little more engaged on foreign policy. That may be from living across the river from the WTC, but I want someone who knows how to engage the world again.

Kerry's pro-war vote was a vote to "engage the world" with the marines and the air force, and the army.

He is the anti-Bush. I think Kerry, with the military service, is second best.

But Edwards has an honesty and dignity that is a stark contrast to that phony in the White House.

Because the bullshit is getting thick.

Two questions, both starting with "Where the hell do you get"

1) That Kerry was snookered. Kerry never said the threat was imminent, and did not vote on that basis. He voted for disclosure and disarmament backed by the threat of military force, a position he has held at least since 1997.

2) That Kerry is pro-war. Dean is anti-war, so everyone else must be pro-war? Kerry said clearly and repeatedly that there should be no rush to war. How is that enthusiasm for the war?

edwards has said he will not run from his trial lawyer background. that he is proud of the cases he took. i remember he told those who accuse him of being an "ambulence chaser" to "bring it on". the southern background thing is just his standard speech. it appeals to many people, especially with the horrible economy and lost jobs. but i'm sure he will discuss other things as his campaign picks up with his formal announcement.

I thought Edwards would have gained more traction by now. Well, it's early, most of the country doesn't know there's a campaign on yet...

I think the title overstates the case. It's not do or die yet.

I thought the headline was way overstated. It isn't the time to consider packing it in, he still has tons of money in the bank and is aiming for a southern primary strategy. In the story Edwards says he will be in for the long haul.

It's easy to forget how the primary schedule is changed from past years. But this schedule definately has some built-in advantages for a southerner. (or should that be Southerner?)

since he switched from money-raising to campaigning there.

It looks like he just might catch fire.

He isn't getting any traction and should focus on running for the Senate. 2004 just isn't his year.

'A veteran N.C. journalist and political observer says U.S. Sen. John Edwards continues to hurt state Democrats -- and in particular, Erskine Bowles -- by running for president and keeping them in the dark about his Senate intentions for 2004.

Ned Cline said Thursday it would take a "big bolt" of lightning for Edwards to win the Democratic nomination for president, and he expressed doubts that Edwards can be re-elected to the U.S. Senate in North Carolina, if he would run.

Despite campaigning in 1998 as a moderate, Edwards has a liberal voting record over the past five years that has closely mirrored -- 89 percent of the time -- Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Cline said.

"Politically in this state, that's not the way to win friends and influence people," he added.

Edwards' foray into presidential politics presents a good chance for U.S. Rep. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to wrest the U.S. Senate away from Democrats and give North Carolina two Republican senators for only the second time, according to Cline.

Bowles, the Democrat defeated by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., in the 2002 election, reportedly waits in the wings until Edwards decides whether to keep going in the presidential race or try for re-election to the Senate.'

http://salisburypost.townnews.com/articles/2003/08/15/news/15-ned_cline_speaks.txt

Since 1974 the seat that Edwards has held has changed parties every six years.

in unison from several Republican-friendly sources every time Edwards starts to show a little traction, and this is one of them. This line of attack came out the first time right after he out-raised everyone in the first quarter. Edwards addressed it by having a a well-publicized meeting with Bowles after which Bowles and other NC Democrats said they were happy with the accord to which Bowle and Edwards came. After that, this line of attack faded. Now that Edwards is spending August campaigning hard (and doing pretty well) it looks like the Republicans are trotting it out again. It makes Republicans look silly. But if they persist, I'm sure Edwards will figure out another clever way to outflank Republicans on this topic.

Incidentally, one of the reasons I think Edwards has the best chance to beat Bush is in evidence in relation to this issue (and every other issue). Unlike the rest of the candidates, Edwards does not need the media to mediate Edwards's relationship with the public. Edwards, better than any other candidate, connects and defines himself by directly addressing his audience, and his presentation of himself is much more powerful than the message the media puts out about him.

He's doing as fine as possible given the other strong candidates have traction problems much more out front. What they consider weakness may turn out very well for the best if an opening develops or other Dems gun each other down or self-implode.

If this is the worst period of his candidacy he is in excellent shape looking at past history.