.Edwards challenged Obama after Clinton noted that Obama had voted "present" 130 times

Forum Name General Discussion: Politics
Topic subject Edwards challenged Obama after Clinton noted that Obama had voted "present" 130 times:
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4152997#4152997
4152997, Edwards challenged Obama after Clinton noted that Obama had voted "present" 130 times:
Posted by rodeodance on Tue Jan-22-08 06:35 AM

I had to leave the debate for a bit last night-I see Edwards got into the PRESENT vote controversary also:



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080122/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_debate_quotes ;_ylt=AnHs.Z.8xSDf10VNEgcn9mCs0NUE


......Edwards challenged Obama after Clinton noted that Obama had voted "present" 130 times while he was in the Illinois Senate:

EDWARDS: What I didn't hear was an explanation for why over 100 times you voted present instead of yes or no when you had a choice to vote up or down.

OBAMA: I'll be happy to answer it. Because in Illinois — in Illinois, oftentimes you vote present in order to indicate that you had problems with a bill that otherwise you might be willing to vote for. And oftentimes you would have a strategy that would help move the thing forward.

Keep in mind, John, I voted for 4,000 bills. And if you want to know whether or not I worked on tough stuff, I passed the first racial...

EDWARDS: I don't question whether you worked on tough stuff.

OBAMA: No, no, no. Hold on a second.

EDWARDS: I don't question whether you worked on tough stuff.

OBAMA: No, no. But you...

EDWARDS: The question is, why would you over 100 times vote present? I mean, every one of us — every one — you've criticized Hillary. You've criticized me for our votes.

OBAMA: Right.

EDWARDS: We've cast hundreds and hundreds of votes. What you're criticizing her for, by the way, you've done to us, which is you pick this vote and that vote out of the hundreds that we've cast.........