Back in N.H., Edwards Is Mum on 2008 Run

[MelissaB]

Back in N.H., Edwards Is Mum on 2008 Run

Former Vice Presidential Candidate Says He Is Focusing on His Wife's Health

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer


>>>snip

He resisted looking back at the reasons he and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) lost the election but quibbled with those who have said the Democrats face a values deficit or that Democrats cannot compete in the South and in rural areas. "We didn't run a campaign in the South," he said. "In the future, it's important for us to compete everywhere in the country."

Democrats, he said, do not need to change their positions to become competitive again. "I just think that trying to figure out how to change our position a little bit on this and a little bit on that is dead wrong," he said. "We ought to stand up for what we believe in, we ought to make clear the country knows what we believe in and what it is we want to do, from Day One."

That theme dominated his speech Saturday evening. "You know all these political experts out there question what you and I and the Democratic Party believe in," he said, according to his prepared text. "They say that we don't believe in anything. . . . We believe in hope over despair, possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism. We believe in doing what is right, even when others say it can't be done. And we believe in fighting desperately for people who don't have a voice."

Edwards's speech echoed the themes of optimism and populism that fueled his rise in the Democratic primaries a year ago, and the enthusiastic reception he received was a reminder of why many Democrats see him as an attractive potential candidate in 2008. But when asked about another possible run for the White House, Edwards demurred.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1494-2005Feb5.html

[VegasWolf]

1. Stay mum. n/t

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Damn! You beat me to it.

[Corgigal]

2. We ought to stand up for what we believe in

Yeah like voting against giving Bush the power to cause war 24-7 with anyone he throws a dart at.

[KoKo]

4. Edwards had a last minute rally in NC....thousands came to see him....

and maybe the fault is with Kerry who didn't really spend the time in NC that he should have. He kicked his campaign off in SC but SC is lock step Repug and so it didn't help him there. Bad miscalculation.

I still believe Kerry/Edwards won NC because the big cities had the vote for them. If he'd just spent a little more time and our vote here hadn't been corrupted.

But, he did make an effort to come with Elizabeth and everyone showed up for him except Erskine Bowles and our Dem. governor Easley....

I wonder how he differed with Kerry about strategy...perhaps we'll never know.

[AP]

5. It's interesting that Bowles and Easley didn't show up...

...for the K-E events. That means that their polling showed that people who were willing to vote for them didn't like K-E (and you have to assume that it was K they didn't like, rather than Edwards, since E's NC approvals improved so much throughout the primaries (up to 60% by February, IIRC).

As for differences in strategy, I think the primaries and this NH event are sort of instructive. Edwards wanted to run a campaign about class, opportunity, work and optimism. Kerry wanted to run a "reporting for duty/permission to come aboard" campaign. Edwards wanted to run everywhere (like Clinton did). Kerry wanted to run in the swing states.

[MattNC]

6. Bowles did

Easley on the other hand won't even come to the Conventions anymore.

[AP]

7. I heard that Democrats lost that senate race in Alaska...

...partly because of Kerry.

Everybody in AK wants to drill ANWAR. There was another proposal which would raise more revenue than drilling ANWAR -- building a pipeline to the north shore. But that needs federal money. Bush is against that proposal. So the Democrats hoped that they could play those policies off of each other: support the pipepline; hope people don't think too much about ANWAR.

However, voters never wrapped their heads around the differences. Republicans ran commercials of Kerry opposing ANWAR drilling (an issue about which he was unhelpfully (for Alaskan Democrats) very vocal). Voters totally associated Kerry with denying them wealth. So the Dems all had to distance themselves from Kerry.

It's amazing how regional issues can totally screw up national campaigns and vice versa.

[KoKo]

Matt I was at the rally with two other DU'ers and didn't see Bowles...mayb

maybe I missed him...we were pretty high up in the stands...but I didn't seem him...and I know for sure Easley wasn't there because not only didn't I see him but he got bad press on it...
:shrug: I'm pretty sure Bowles missed it...but if you saw differently ...okay...

[KoKo]

8. Matt I was at the rally with two other DU'ers and didn't see Bowles...mayb

maybe I missed him...we were pretty high up in the stands...but I didn't seem him...and I know for sure Easley wasn't there because not only didn't I see him but he got bad press on it...
:shrug: I'm pretty sure Bowles missed it...but if you saw differently ...okay...

[surfermaw]

9. You are right

Bowles nor Easley showed their faces