Edwards roots fit party's needs
By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY
Less than a month after the Supreme Court effectively ended the 2000 presidential election, Sen. John Edwards was in California chatting up Democratic VIPs such as Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman and technology tycoon David Bohnett. His political résumé— two years as a Democratic senator from North Carolina — was small. But his ambitions already were presidential-sized.
Edwards, 49, first ran for public office in 1998. Once he won his Senate seat, he says, he started thinking "seriously" about running for president.
Growing up in a blue-collar family in Robbins, N.C., education past high school "seemed like a distant thing," Edwards says. He was the first person in his family to attend college, and he didn't stop there. He got a law degree and became a trial lawyer, he tells audiences, because "I thought the little guy deserved a chance in our courtrooms."
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The last three Democratic presidents have been Southerners. Given that fact and the party's need to make up ground among Southern and blue-collar voters, Edwards' background is a Democratic consultant's dream.
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If Edwards were to win the White House, he would become president with six years of experience in elective office — as much as George W. Bush, a former Texas governor, had when he took the oath.
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To counter perceptions that he lacks substance, Edwards gave a series of policy speeches last fall on education, foreign policy, homeland security and the economy. His theme: Bush's priorities are "out of whack."
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To pave the way for his candidacy, Edwards has traveled extensively and raised millions of dollars in the last two years. He has contributed cash, computers and get-out-the-vote ads and brochures to state parties and candidates. He has been to Iowa eight times, New Hampshire three times, South Carolina four times.
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