John Edwards is a genius

[independentchristian]

He is always one step ahead. Too bad he doesn' t have the connections.

First of all, a little history. John Edwards actually has a lot of people power, to the point where he dictated the elections to some degree. Think about it. John Edwards was the "positive guy." It put him on the map in Iowa, so what did Kerry do? He adopted the optimistic message for his Iowa campaign as well, talking about "the politics of hope." Only difference is he opted out of public financing, outspent Edwards 4 to 1 in Iowa, and essentially "out-optimized" Edwards in Iowa because he spent 3 times the money. Then you have the "Bush administration" after Kerry got the nomination calling Kerry a "pessimist," and claiming that they were the "optimists." Basically, all of them were trying to be "Edwards-lite".

Now, John Edwards is once again ahead of the game, and you'll eventually begin seeing other 2008 hopefuls grabbing his message again.

With everything that Bush is trying to do, "poverty" is going to be a big issue because Bush is going to create a whole lot of it by 2008. Even the oil crisis will lead to a lot of unaffordable products which will make people feel economically squeezed.

Addressing and researching poverty is going to give Edwards a leg up come '08 when the people are worried to death about quality of life issues.

Once again, Edwards is ahead of the game, and will be stolen from by people who have the connections and cash to drown him out.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. I agree

Poverty will be a big-ass issue again. Many, many people are hurting and the recent privatization of student loan collections to a bunch of sharks is going to hit a lot of people hard. and, it is becoming very apparent that the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan is nothing but a very expensive giveaway for the Drugcos. And, just wait until all the budget cuts hit...

[FreedomAngel82]

12. I'm glad he's getting ahead on it

It's good because I think the way Bush is going and things don't get better he'll be needed. I think it's great how Edwards and his family are for the working class. Not talk like BushCo. :grr:

[aden_nak]

2. Edwards manages to be a good Democrat without "sounding" like a liberal.

Which actually appealed to both the real Democrats, who were looking at the meat of his argument, and the Republican Lite people, who are only concerned about the window dressing anyway. One of the first real themes he hit on during the primaries was "Two Americas". The gist of it was that Bush and his rich, elitist friends live in one America, and the rest of us (note: us) live in another, much harsher reality. Almost all of the candidates adopted that stance during the primaries, and it racked up plenty of miles during the main race, as well.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. In a way he reminds me

of Clinton. And he is/was so right about the two America's and it's still going on. *sigh*

[aden_nak]

19. Yes, his style is very much Clinton-esque.

He takes the GOOD PARTS of the conservative idea pool (there are a few here and there) and encorperates them into a populist, people-first fabric.

[On the Road]

3. That's an Interesting Way to Look at It

Edwards always outperformed expectations and had a huge effect on the elections. I think more will be heard from him.

The only mistake he made, in my opinion, was framing the issue in terms of upper vs lower class. Everyone in this country thinks they're middle class, and you have to frame the issue that way. That's what Clinton did. And as the son of a mill worker, JE should know that.

[ultraist]

9. Edwards did not frame it as "lower and upper"

He framed it as two Americas. One for the upper 5%, those that have everything they need and more, and one FOR EVERYBODY ELSE. He grouped the lower and middle together. We are essentially in the same boat compared to the upper 5%.

Only 1% of Americans earn over $285,000 per year and only 5% earn over $200,000.

I'd say there are TWO distinct classes in that respect. The wealthy ruling class and everybody else.

[On the Road]

13. That is Correct

but I believe it came across very distinctly as upper vs lower, or rich vs poor. I think JE would have done better to phrase it in terms of middle vs upper class.

[ultraist]

15. Possibly, but he does not want to exclude the poor

Candidates normally don't talk much about the poor because they don't vote.

Both the lower and the middle classes are being subjugated to the ways of the ruling class. That is his point. That only a few privileged are able to really actualize the American dream. MOST Americans don't even have savings, let alone wealth built up.

[On the Road]

18. That's True,

but it's a matter of political strategy. Bill Clinton made it very clear anecdotally that he understood the struggles of the poor. But he opened his acceptance speech at the convention by saying "I am a child of the middle class." It bothered me at the time, buy I understand now why he did it. It worked.

[PeaceProgProsp]

20. However, Edwards did better with wealthier, white, suburban conservative..

...men.

He did well across all demographics, but the the closer a person was to the top of the range of the "second America" and even at the bottom of the "first America", the more likely it was that that person liked Edwards.

That, to me, is remarkable.

Edwards made an argument about poverty, opportunity and work that people loved and recognized even if they had "made it." He made an argument that we're all better off when we're all better off (which was a phrase he used frequently) and the people who were better off saw that they'd do even better if there was only one America.

Brilliant.

[On the Road]

23. Edwards Came Across as a Rich Person from a Poor Background

who was concerned about the poor. What I'm saying is that that's not the best image to actually win the votes of the lower classes.

I think he would have gotten more votes from the working class if he had taken the line that we're all middle class. I became successful and you can, too. And along the way, I understand your problems and want to solve them.

[PeaceProgProsp]

24. I think people who were poorer weren't listening closely to the candidates

and I think they were more likely to be motivated by the Republican terror-related scare tactics and therefore were more likely to prefer a strong military candidate (Kerry and Clark) over one talking about poverty, work and opportunity.

I don't see how what Edwards is doing now will do anything other than make it more clear to the "second America" what he's arguing, which should help him.

Since this message already proved popular with "first America" it should also solidify his popularity with people close to the cusp and above.

I also don't think Edwards being a wealthy lawyer is really the reason second America was less likely to vote for him than people at the cusp because the candidate they picked was 10 to 100 times wealthier than Edwards and really didn't have a person that said something much at all about work and opportunity and poverty.

[On the Road]

25. Edwards was a Great Candidate

I do think that his packaging, which was designed to appeal to the working class, was not as effective as Bush's packaging. We just see things on that one.

What I'm pointing out is not substance, but what people respond to and how present yourself during a campaign. Democrats in general have to get better at this. It can be dome.

[ultraist]

26. Kerry won the majority of the poor and lower class votes in the GE

Not Bush. And Edwards did talk about the struggles of the poor. It seems like you are saying, he didn't talk about the poor, right after you said, he didn't talk about the middle class.

Have you heard any of his speeches? It seems like you haven't.

[PeaceProgProsp]

28. I think that ribo is saying that Edwards' persona didn't charge up

poor people.

I agree with that. The closer people were to the cusp of First America, the more enthusiastic they were about Edwards despite the fact that Edwards was clearly talking about lifiting up Second America so that we were all First America. His class-based argument resonated most with people who weren't at the bottom.

That's not saying that Second America didn't like him. He did very well in the primaries for a guy who came from just about nowhere.

So, ribo has a point.

But what I think happened is that second America wasn't rejecting Edwards's persona (i.e., the problem wasn't that they were not seeing him as a genuine advocate, voice and champion for 2nd America's cause).

The problem, I think, is that many of them were motivated by fear to vote for the guy whose commercials showed him at age 24 walking through a jungle toting an M-16 in a grainy super-8 film.

With a little more time and money, maybe Edwards could have swayed them to vote for an optimist instead. However, I'm not sure that Edwards needed to modify his persona too much to get those voters on his side.

[On the Road]

32. Edwards Absolutely Talked About the Struggles of the Poor

and he and Kerry did win the majority of the vote from the working classes.

What I'm saying is that he presented himself as a polished upper-class person who represented government help for the poor. That waves red flags to a lot of working-class people who are suspicious of DC people in suits wanting to help them. As well as those who are too proud to seek direct help and feel they can make it on their own. I believe it would have increased his appeal to a good chuck of lower-class voters if he had neutralized those reactions more effectively.

A lot of poor people consider themselves middle-class and will vote for a candidate who they can identify with as another member of the middle class, which is what Clinton did. Even though Bush came from a much more privileged background, he portrayed himself more effectively to this group of people.

It may seem trivial, but the elections were so close I believe it was a factor, especially since Edwards was teamed with Kerry.

[Quakerfriend]

4. Yes, Edwards has always been a bright light

I could tell that he was not too happy to concede on 11/3.

If not for Elizabeth, and his wish to turn his attention to her med needs, I feel certain that he would have cont'd to fight for the office. God Bless those two. They represent the America we all loved, in many ways.

[ultraist]

5. I agree! He is in tune with regular Americans--bet DEAN pushes for him

Don't be surprised if Dean wants Edwards for Pres in 08. They are both on the same page: return to our core values and don't write off the South. Dean stated during the primaries, after he withdrew, that he thought Edwards was a better choice than Kerry.

I see a theme being developed here. Remember how McA pushed so hard for Kerry? The DNC Chair has quite a lot of power in this respect.

It will be interesting to see it all unfold. Will the old school centrists like Hillary have their way or will the new school populists like Dean and Edwards win out?

[Clark2008]

6. Dean better not push for ANYONE

He promised he wouldn't.

[PeaceProgProsp]

21. Dean better set it up so that the best Democrat can win the primaries.

[jeebie]

7. e-mail from Edwards

Keep Seniors out of Poverty, Help Protect Social Security

Dear Friend,

As you know, I will be working in the coming months on the issues of combating poverty and expanding economic opportunity for more Americans. One of the most important things we must do is help keep our seniors - who have given so much to our country - out of poverty. Thanks to FDR's vision, Social Security lifted millions of seniors out of poverty and has kept millions of seniors out of poverty for nearly seventy years.

Instead of working to strengthen Social Security, George Bush is continuing his cross-country campaign to try to sell his plans to privatize Social Security, and since he is in my hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina today, I wanted to speak out. His Social Security privatization ideas do nothing to shore up the system, and they are wrong for North Carolina, especially the people I grew up with and fought to represent.

George Bush wants to borrow trillions of dollars, add even more to the deficit, and cut benefits for millions of seniors. Rather than provide a genuine plan to provide retirement security for everyone, the President and his allies have come up with a plan that gives ordinary people no security and a windfall to those who need it least.

I agree with many of the Republicans in the North Carolina congressional delegation who have expressed concerns about his ideas. I also want to tell North Carolinians and all Americans that that we must do everything we can to stop the Republicans from weakening Social Security for our seniors.

The Republicans want to stand with their friends on Wall Street, but we want to stand with people who've worked hard all of their lives. We believe that people should have the freedom to grow old with dignity without having to depend on their children. That is what America is all about.

I want to hear from you about your ideas to make Social Security stronger and to prevent the Republicans from dismantling this important safety net for our seniors. We have just reactivated our blog so please visit it and let me know what you think about this issue and the other important issues facing our country right now. I plan to be posting on our blog in the next couple of weeks but I want you to start posting right away. I look forward to hearing from you so please visit the blog as soon as you get a chance!

Thanks again for everything.


Your friend,

John

[GOPBasher]

8. You're right, and he has so much charisma to boot. nt

[ultraist]

11. He certainly doesn't lack charisma, does he?

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/

[quinnox]

10. I always said Edwards had the best campaign message

of all the candidates.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. I think Kerry/Edwards were great together

They were my favorite next to Clinton and Gore. :) They would've made us proud as a country I think. *sigh* Kerry was good on issues like with war and everything with coroption (like BCCI for example) and Edwards with your average working class person. It was beautiful. :)

[politicasista]

17. I agree, they were a great team

Sad we won't see them together anymore. Their famiies brought us a lot of hope. :nopity: :cry:

[PeaceProgProsp]

22. The blog is open at Edwards's One America web site...

http://blog.oneamericacommittee.com/

[safi0]

27. First time poster here.

Anyway, Edwards is a great speaker in so many ways. But if he runs in 08 the knock on him will obviously be that while hes great at talking his actions leave something to be desired. Think about it, hes a one term Senator with an undistinguished record and he couldn't deliver any states for Kerry as VP. In North Carolina Bush won by 13 in 2000 and won by 12 in 04. People were talking about him being a Walter Mondale or LBJ type VP who could deliver states for the Pres. but he couldn't do that. Obviously if he became the candidate I would support him, but I think their are better candidates.

[PeaceProgProsp]

29. Maybe. Maybe not.

Those are the kind of arguments that only time will tell if they're right.

Let's see the "better candidates." Let's compare them to Edwards.

That Edwards can't do well in some states is sort of a point that he's proven isn't accurate. The general election notwithstanding, he did do well in many states during the primaries, and the biggest knock on him was that Kerry had a better chance of beating Bush.

Now that we know that Kerry didn't beat Bush, the biggest argument for not voting for Edwards is gone. Now people have to answer the question of how Edwards stacks up against X candidate (which is what people should have been doing in the primaries rather than mistakenly assuming Kerry could beat Bush).

[McCamy Taylor]

30. Edwards 2008 will Win! The GOP will try to deny him the nomination.

:dem:

[PeaceProgProsp]

33. Regardless of whether the Republicans feel they can beat Edwards:

I think the Republicans do not want to have a debate about poverty, opportunity and work leading up to 2008. They want to talk about terror and national security.

They accuse Democrats of starting class warfare not because they think it's dumb to talk about class. They do it because they're afraid to talk about class.

Whether Democrats want Edwards to be the nominee or not, I think they'd be insane not to embrace Edwards and his message as we get closer to '06 and '08.

[ernstbass]

31. I totally agree

[scbluevoter]

34. Here in South Carolina. . .

where he won his only primary, the 'Pubs were really afraid of him being nominated. I worked on his campaign here and we are already gearing up to help him in '08.

[safi0]

35. I guess my judgement's a little clouded

I have a Senator(Feingold) who I really want to run so whenever someone mentions a candidate for 08 I always compare them to Russ and thats a little unfair. I like Edwards I've met both him his wife, and his daughter all extremely nice people. He says all the right things hes extremely engaging and likeable, on the surface hes a great candidate, the problem is he hasn't really done a whole lot.