|
 John
Edwards
 excerpts
from
the Iowa Daily Report
August
1-15,
2003
… The
Washington Times headline yesterday said it
all: “Edwards is 4 months late on taxes”
Excerpt from report by the Times’ Charles
Hunt: “Sen. John Edwards, North
Carolina Democrat and 2004 presidential
hopeful, is four months delinquent in paying
the property taxes on his Georgetown mansion
and owes the cash-strapped District more than
$11,000, city records show. Mr. Edwards
is worth somewhere between $12 million and $30
million after a successful career as a
personal injury lawyer, according to his
financial disclosure forms. He bought the
eight-bedroom, 6,672-square-foot home in the
tony neighborhood for $3.8 million in
September. In February, the city sent Mr.
Edwards a tax bill for $9,562.46, which he was
supposed to have paid by March 31, according
to tax records. As of 3:30 p.m. yesterday,
Mr. Edwards owed $11,092.46 with interest and
penalties, according to the city's tax
collection office. Mr. Edwards' office
was not aware of the unpaid taxes but at 7
p.m. yesterday issued the following response
by e-mail after The Washington Times faxed a
copy of the bill. The senator and his wife,
Elizabeth, ‘had not received a bill. As soon
as they received one, they paid it,’ the
statement says. Mr. Edwards'
delinquency came during a year in which the
city faced a $323 million budget shortfall.
The District was forced to cut funding for
public education and a wide array of city
services. The senator's tax bill is among
the city's largest for private homeowners.
‘That's a lot of money,’ said Virginia Daisley,
a spokeswoman for the city tax collection
office. ‘There's no reason for not paying your
tax bill,’ she said. ‘I guess if you're in the
hospital or something, but still you have to
pay your taxes.’ On the presidential
campaign trail, Mr. Edwards often rails
against President Bush's tax cuts as giveaways
to wealthy people for whom tens of thousands
of dollars is pocket change. For example,
in a June speech at Georgetown University, Mr.
Edwards criticized ‘tax-free tax
shelters for millionaires that are bigger than
most Americans' paychecks for an entire
year.’ In the same speech, where he laid out
his vision for revising the U.S. tax code, Mr.
Edwards said, ‘In these times of
national sacrifice, we should not be asking
less of the most fortunate.’” Update: The
News & Observer of Raleigh reported it the
newspaper’s website yesterday that Edwards has
paid $11,092.46 after the questions about his
bill were raised by the Washington Times. (8/1/2003)
… Edwards
and Kerry discover common bond: Tax
delinquencies. Kerry’s tax problem surfaces a
day after the political world discovers
Edwards’ haphazard record in DC and NC.
Headline from Friday’s Boston Globe: “Bank
error blamed for late tax payment on Kerrys’
vacation home” Excerpt from coverage by
the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “A bank's lapse
left more than $10,000 in property taxes owed
on a vacation home overlooking Nantucket Sound
shared by Senator John F. Kerry and his wife,
Teresa Heinz Kerry. Mellon Financial
Corp., the Pittsburgh bank that manages the
trust owning the property, issued a statement
yesterday saying it had failed to pay the
fourth and final installment on the couple's
2003 tax assessment. That amount, $9,978.49,
was due to the town's tax collector on May 2.
When it went unpaid, the couple were
assessed interest, leaving the Kerrys
$10,326.79 in arrears…’It was our
responsibility to make the payment and we are
researching this matter to determine why the
fourth installment was not paid in a timely
way,’ said company spokesman Ron Gruendl. ''We
have sent the payment in the overnight mail.’
The amount of delinquent taxes owed could
be considered personally inconsequential to
the couple, with Heinz Kerry as the heiress to
a Heinz ketchup fortune assessed at more than
$550 million. The senator is also a
millionaire, according to his Senate financial
disclosure form. The Nantucket home is one
of five the couple share, although Heinz
Kerry is considered the sole owner of all
but one of them…Politically, the error
could prove something of an embarrassment,
coming at a time when Kerry, a candidate for
the Democratic presidential nomination, is
hammering President Bush over the fairness of
his tax-cut policy. The news of Kerry's
delinquency came the same day one of his
rivals for the nomination, Senator John
Edwards of North Carolina, conceded tax
problems. Confirming a report in The
Washington Times, the senator said he was
delinquent on more than $11,000 in property
taxes due on a house in Washington's
Georgetown section. He also said he had
been delinquent on several occasions on both
property and automobile tax payments in his
home state of North Carolina.” (8/3/2003)
… Edwards
touches tricky issue for him – tort reform.
His proposal was lost in coverage earlier in
the week, but Concord Monitor staffer revives
Edwards’ “broadside aimed at unethical
lawyers.” Monitor headline from Friday: “Edwards
adds tort reform to message…Subject tricky for
former trial lawyer” Excerpt from
report by Daniel Barrick: “Tucked
inside the health care speech Sen. John
Edwards delivered on Monday was a broadside
aimed at unethical lawyers. Edwards's
‘three-strikes-and-you're-out’ policy,
designed to discourage frivolous malpractice
lawsuits against doctors, didn't attract much
attention in coverage of the speech. But
the senator, a former trial lawyer himself,
included it for a reason. Republicans have
vowed to make medical malpractice reform a key
issue in the 2004 elections, linking large
jury payments to the rising costs of health
care. Edwards and other Democrats running
for president are trying to blunt charges that
they're in the pocket of trial attorneys,
significant contributors to many of their
campaigns. This is especially delicate
territory for Edwards. The first-term senator
from North Carolina made millions as a lawyer
- including many medical malpractice cases -
before jumping into politics in 1998. And more
than half of the $7.4 million he raised in the
first quarter of this year came from trial
attorneys. For months, Republican critics
have slammed Edwards for his ties to
that community and have tried to make him the
public face of the debate on malpractice
reform…Edwards, like most Democrats in
the presidential campaign, has tried to shift
the debate away from jury award limits. He
advocates a range of solutions for rising
malpractice premiums: tightening professional
standards for doctors, direct aid to doctors
driven out by high premiums, limiting
"price-gouging" by insurers. His ‘three
strikes’ policy would require lawyers to swear
that an expert doctor is ready to testify that
malpractice had actually occurred before a
case goes to court. Lawyers who file
frivolous cases would face sanctions; three
frivolous cases, and lawyers would be barred
from bringing another suit for 10 years…Sen.
John Kerry, another Democratic
presidential contender, has advocated a
similar panel system to screen out invalid
cases. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean,
a physician, has said he prefers leaving the
issue to state legislators.” (8/3/2003)
… Question
of the weekend: Are the Edwards henchmen
really drumming up support for his
presidential bid – or keeping the political
home fires burning until he drops out of the
wannabe parade? From News & Observer
online report: “U.S. Sen. John Edwards'
presidential campaign announced Thursday that
it will conduct a half-dozen town-hall
meetings across North Carolina this month to
drum up support for the Democrat's
presidential run.
The meetings
will be led by Ed Turlington, a Raleigh lawyer
who serves as general chairman of Edwards'
campaign. Edwards is not scheduled to appear
himself.
‘North Carolinians are the people that know
Senator Edwards the best, and we're going to
get them involved in the campaign,’ Turlington
said. ‘This is the best group to show voters
in other states where Senator Edwards
comes from and what his values are.’ The first
meeting takes places Monday in Wilmington.”(8/3/2003)
… Edwards
– with a February strategy – concedes he took
a calculated risk by raising money first, but
now anticipates airing first TV ads in Iowa
and New Hampshire. Headline from
yesterday’s Washington Post: “For Edwards,
Time to Play Catch-Up…Democratic
Candidate’s Rush to Raise Money Left Him
Campaigning from Behind” Excerpt from report –
datelined Nashua, NH -- by the Post’s Jim
VandeHei: “Sen. John Edwards (N.C.),
after raising more money than all but one of
his eight rivals for the Democratic
presidential nomination, is struggling to turn
money into momentum on the crowded campaign
trail. Edwards's gamble to raise money
first, campaign later has left him far behind
the front-runners in recent polls conducted
here and in Iowa, the first two key testing
grounds in the Democratic primary.
Nationally, the first-term senator barely
shows a pulse in surveys so far dominated by
seasoned veterans such as Sen. Joseph I.
Lieberman (Conn.) and the antiwar,
e-campaign of former Vermont governor Howard
Dean. At town hall meetings here last
week, Edwards sounded like a candidate
playing catch-up -- yet one confident he can
make a late break because so many voters
remain uncommitted. ‘I spent the first six
months of this year, a huge part of my time,
raising money,’ he told a small group of
Democrats at a town hall-style gathering in
the woods of Greeley Park here last weekend.
‘Now my job is to make sure voters see me and
hear me and know what I am about.’ Because
he is the neophyte among the contenders, with
only four years of experience as a senator,
Edwards made a calculated risk to essentially
go underground for the first six months of
this year to prove his viability by raising
presidential-caliber money. Edwards
passed that test with flying colors: He raised
more money than any other Democrat in the
first three months and now has more cash to
spend than everyone save Sen. John F. Kerry
(Mass.), $8.1 million. Much of it came from
fellow trial lawyers, but at this point in the
contest, money is money, Democrats say. At
the same time, though, he seemed to fade and
allow the campaigns of Kerry, Dean and Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) in particular to
take root here and in Iowa and sprout large
networks of supporters. The result: During
recent interviews with dozens of voters in
Iowa, few knew much if anything about
Edwards, and none listed him as a top-tier
candidate. Many of the most active Democrats
have signed up to help other campaigns. In a
primary that has more well-funded participants
and is starting earlier than most in history,
it is unclear how badly Edwards has hurt
himself -- if at all -- by making a belated
bid for the two earliest prizes. Polls
show many Democrats are undecided on a
candidate, and no one has emerged as a clear
front-runner, which strategists say bodes well
for Edwards…He is planning to dip
into his campaign bank soon to fund his first
ads in Iowa and, perhaps, New Hampshire.
With his good looks and a warm courtroom
presence, Edwards, 50, comes across
better than most candidates on television,
according to Democratic strategists. This
could provide Edwards a much-needed lift in
the dog days of summer. At the least, it
will give many Democrats their first look at
the candidate… Edwards's advisers talk of a
gradual rise up starting now and with high
hopes of peaking later this year, when more
voters start paying attention. In an
interview, Edwards said that by the
time voters make up their minds, ‘they will be
looking for character, looking for vision and
looking for person with solutions,’ which he
thinks he provides. The Edwards campaign
does not necessarily expect to win either Iowa
or New Hampshire in January, but it hopes to
place high enough to stay alive into February.
At that point, the contest moves quickly to
the South, to places such as South Carolina
and Oklahoma and out West, where Edwards's
emerging brand of southern centrism is an
easier sell. While most successful
campaigns of recent history relied on top
three showings in Iowa and New Hampshire to
build momentum, Edwards and Lieberman are
banking on big momentum swings during the
first seven days of February, when nine states
hold their primaries. Edwards sees South
Carolina, where he was born, as a must-win and
is spending considerable time and money in
Arizona and other states getting less
attention now from the major candidates.
Those states are ‘enormously important,’ he
said. Edwards is trying to position himself as
the centrist in the field, with a heavy
emphasis on the personal and fiscal
responsibility themes popularized by Clinton
in 1992 and 1996. ‘Edwards's campaign is
certainly going in a direction we'd like to
see the party go,’ said Al From of the
Democratic Leadership Council.” (8/4/2003)
… Summer
TV viewing takes a turn for the worse in Iowa
and New Hampshire – Edwards begins buy
featuring bio ads, but most IA observers say
it’s too little too late given his low poll
ranking in the two kickoff states. An
excerpt from coverage by AP’s Iowa
caucus-watcher Mike Glover: “Democratic
presidential hopeful John Edwards planned to
hit the airwaves Wednesday with his first
round of television commercials in Iowa and
New Hampshire. Determined to improve on his
low single-digit showing in state and national
polls, the North Carolina senator will use
some of the millions he raised early in the
campaign on advertising. The commercials -
two 30-second spots and one 60-second spot -
show Edwards and his family, and focus
on his background as the son of a mill worker
who was the first in his family to attend
college. One features Edwards touting his
plan to aid college students in paying
tuition, and another in which he criticizes
tax breaks, arguing that they encourage
companies to leave the country. ‘My
grandmother came from a family of
sharecroppers,’ Edwards says in one ad.
‘My father worked in a cotton mill all his
life, and I helped out in the summers.’ The
spots also make the point that ‘George Bush,
he comes from a very different place.’
David Axelrod, a Chicago-based media
consultant advising the campaign, said the
television drive is part of a strategy in
which Edwards spent the first half of
the year raising money and now will try to
introduce himself to voters. Edwards
raised $11.9 million in the first two quarters
of fund raising, according to reports he filed
with the Federal Election Commission, placing
him second behind Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts. Edwards has $8.5 million on
hand. ‘We've always had a plan from the
beginning to spend the first half of this year
raising the money we need to communicate with
the American people and the second half of the
year communicating with the American people,’
Axelrod said. The campaign will begin rotating
three separate commercials in Iowa and New
Hampshire, beginning as early as Wednesday
night. Axelrod declined to put a dollar
figure on the effort. ‘I would call it a
substantial buy,’ he said. With his move,
Edwards becomes the second Democratic
presidential candidate to take to the airwaves
in key early states. Former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean launched a similar drive
earlier this summer.”(8/7/2003)
… Just
what the Dem campaign needs – Edwards outlines
his “real solutions” for America in a
pamphlet. Headline from yesterday’s The
Union Leader – “Summer reading: Edwards
offers 65-page policy booklet” Coverage –
datelined Concord – by AP’s Holly Ramer. An
excerpt: “Democratic Presidential hopeful
John Edwards wants New Hampshire teachers to
hit the books before they head back to the
classroom. The North Carolina senator
plans to distribute copies of his 60-plus-page
booklet ‘Real Solutions For America’ at
a meeting Wednesday of the National Education
Association of New Hampshire. Copies also will
be available at two ‘Town Hall’ meetings later
in the day. ‘America deserves a President who
will offer real solutions to the problems
people face in their everyday lives. I have a
responsibility to tell you not just what I'm
against, but what I'm for,’ Edwards
wrote in the booklet's introduction, which was
provided along with excerpts to The Associated
Press. In a crowded field of nine
Democrats, Edwards has sought to distinguish
himself with a steady stream of policy
proposals. The booklet is divided into 11
chapters on everything from job creation to
health care to foreign policy. A section
titled ‘Help Working Americans Build Their
Wealth’ includes Edwards' plan to
provide a matching tax credit of up to $5,000
for first-time homeowners, cut capital gains
tax rates for middle-class families and create
matching retirement savings accounts for those
with incomes up to $50,000. Though Edwards
has been touting the proposals for months,
packaging them together provides a detailed
look at the candidate's ideas, what they'd
cost and how he'd pay for them, said Colin
VanOstern, Edwards' New Hampshire
spokesman. The booklet isn't exactly beach
reading, but VanOstern said he expects the
crowds at the Town Hall forums to pick them
up. ‘People are really starting to be
engaged,’ he said. Edwards is not the
first Presidential candidate to package his
ideas in a booklet - Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida has a 50-page pamphlet on his economic
policy alone.” (8/7/2003)
… Edwards unable to
respond to question on standardized tests at
NH NEA convention – and the Union Leader hits
him with an editorial. Headline on Friday
editorial – “Cram time: Edwards fails a
practice test” Editorial excerpt: “Sen.
John Edwards had a ‘duh’ moment in Bartlett on
Wednesday. Edwards was there to hand out
copies of his 60-page booklet detailing his
policy agenda for the nation. The first
line of his booklet reads, ‘I’ve spent the
last year putting together a detailed plan to
get our country moving again.’ Handing out the
booklet in Bartlett, he said, ‘I want you to
know where I stand on everything.’ Then the
head of Derry’s teachers’ union asked Edwards
what he would do to improve standardized
testing. His answer? He didn’t know enough
about the subject to give an answer. The
man spent the past year crafting a ‘detailed
plan’ for the country, and he has no opinion
on standardized testing, one of the hottest
subjects in America in the past two years?
Looks like Sen. Edwards is trying to take one
of the most important tests in the country
without having finished his homework.”
(8/10/2003)
…
NC poll: By 48-47 margin, home state voters
disapprove of his White House bid. Numbers
below 50% in possible Senate re-election bid –
and Bush would carry the state 54-40 in a
head-to-head matchup.
Under the subhead “Edwards
malaise,”
Jennifer Harper reported in the “Inside
Politics” column in Friday’s Washington Times:
“Democrat John Edwards, whose presidential
campaign has been going nowhere, is running
well behind President Bush in his home state
of North Carolina. The senator's re-election
prospects are looking shakier, too, if he
decides to seek a second term. The
president would defeat Mr. Edwards 54
percent to 40 percent, according to a Research
2000 North Carolina Poll conducted July 13-16.
Voters also said by a margin of 48 percent
to 47 percent that they disapproved of Mr.
Edwards' White House bid, though he leads in
the state Democratic primary with an
underwhelming 43 percent. In a trial
matchup against Republican challenger Rep.
Richard M. Burr, Mr. Edwards leads 47
percent to 39 percent, ‘a poor showing for an
incumbent this early in the election cycle,’
election analyst Hastings Wyman said in the
Southern Political Report. ‘Moreover,
Edwards' Senate margin is decreasing — in
mid-May, he led Burr 47 percent to 36
percent.’”(8/10/2003)
… As if
Edwards didn’t have enough problems trying to
pretend to be a credible Dem contender, the
locals back home are now pressuring him to
decide on his Senate future. Weekend
headline from the Boston Globe online edition:
“N. C. party presses Edwards for decision:
White House or Senate race?” Excerpt –
datelined Raleigh – from AP report by Scott
Mooneyham: “Fight all the way for the White
House or return home and run for reelection to
the Senate? North Carolina Democrats are
pressuring John Edwards for an answer now,
arguing that the longer he delays, the better
the chances of Republicans reclaiming his seat
in 2004. Edwards could try for a
political double of pursuing the party's
nomination while running for a second Senate
term. State law allows him to do both, but
not even Edwards's confidants expect him to
try. So North Carolina Democrats nervously
watch the Republicans charge ahead. ‘It is
just time for some decisions to be made, and
they need to be made now,’ said state
Representative Mickey Michaux, a 13-term House
member from Durham. ‘If John is not going to
run, then John ought to say that he is not
going to run and let other people know that.
If he is going to run, then he ought to be
gearing up his campaign to run for Senate.’
The Democrats' biggest fear is that he will
proceed with his presidential bid and
eventually drop out of the Senate race, but
take so long to decide that he leaves
potential Democratic Senate candidates at a
disadvantage. The Edwards campaign
said he has no timetable for making a
decision. ‘I think the longer this situation
remains in doubt, the weaker our candidate
will be,’ said Tony Rand, the state Senate
majority leader and a Democrat from
Fayetteville. Democrats' fears have been
heightened by Representative Richard Burr's
emergence as the Republican front-runner.
With backing from the White House, Burr has
raised $1.8 million this year for the Senate
race and transferred $1.7 million from his
House campaign account, according to
Federal Election Commission reports. Democrats
poised to run if Edwards should choose
a presidential bid are former White House
chief of staff Erskine Bowles and former state
House speaker Dan Blue… Questioned about the
race, Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards's
presidential campaign spokeswoman, reiterated
what the candidate has said: ‘He is running
for president, and he hasn't made a decision
on the Senate seat.’ Democrats expressed
concern that he has hurt his chances with
North Carolina voters by spending so much time
on the presidential campaign trail.”
(8/11/2003)
… Edwards tries to make point on education
– and criticizes Bush – with visit to slave
school in South Carolina. Excerpt of AP
coverage by AP’s Bruce Smith in yesterday’s
Greenville News: “Democratic presidential
contender U.S. Sen. John Edwards
visited the site of the nation's first school
for freed slaves Saturday and attacked
President George Bush's education record. ‘In
many ways we still have two public school
systems in America - one for the haves and one
for the have-nots,’ Edwards, the
North Carolina Democrat, told a crowd of about
100 people gathered at the Penn Center on this
sea island near Beaufort, S.C. ‘The president
has talked about his slogan no child left
behind. But I have served on the Education
Committee and my concern is this president is
actually leaving millions of children behind,’
Edwards said to loud applause and hoots
from the audience. Edwards was
campaigning before South Carolina's
first-in-the-South Democratic presidential
primary next February. The Penn Center, which
runs a number of community outreach programs
for island residents, began in 1862 as a
school for freed slaves after Union forces
captured the area early in the Civil War.
Edwards said the president has failed to
provide enough money to even pay for his own
education plan. ‘We have to address the
serious needs in our public schools,
particularly narrowing the gap between the two
public school systems in America,’ Edwards
said. Edwards called for a national
initiative to boost teacher pay and for pay
incentives to encourage good teachers to teach
in poorly performing schools. He also said
there needs to be more investment in early
childhood education programs and in
after-school programs. After-school programs
can provide students with a place to go so
they are off the streets and productive,
Edwards said. ‘The president's solution
was to cut half a million after-school slots,’
said Edwards. ‘This is not what he
values. This is not what he puts his
priorities on. For the president, public
education is a slogan. It's a political
issue.’ Then Edwards added: ‘For me,
this is personal.’”(8/11/2003)
… Edwards,
striving to improve on second place showing in
latest SC poll, goes with standard
Bush-honors-wealth theme during weekend
appearances. Headline from yesterday’s
Charleston Post and Courier: “Edwards
describes Bush as out of touch” Excerpt
from report by Michael Gartland: “In a
four-stop tour of the Lowcountry, Democratic
presidential contender Sen. John Edwards
argued Saturday for health care reform and
cast President Bush as out of touch with
Americans' core values. ‘The
pharmaceutical industry has an absolute
stranglehold on Washington,’ Edwards
said before an audience of about 40 at the
Master Chef restaurant in North Charleston.
‘There are more lobbyists for these industries
than live in my hometown.’ The problem, he
said, has worsened under Bush's leadership.
Edwards, a native South Carolinian who is a
U.S. senator from North Carolina, accused Bush
of pandering to corporate interests and
ignoring the needs of ordinary workers.
‘In the world he comes from, wealth is
inherited, not earned,’ said Edwards to the
mostly black audience. ‘He honors and
respects one thing: wealth. And he wants to
make sure that whoever has it, keeps it.’ His
tour, which also included stops at St. Helena
Island, Walterboro, and Summerville, came six
months before South Carolina's Democratic
presidential primary next February, the first
primary in the South. Edwards also focused
his attack on Bush's tax cuts, which he
described as more beneficial to the rich than
to anyone else. He later emphasized that he
would support tax cuts that would benefit
working people. ‘He wants to get rid of the
dividends tax. He wants to get rid of the
estate tax,’ said Edwards, 50. ‘I take
this very personally.’”(8/12/2003)
… So, where
are they doing well? Senator-wannabes Edwards
and Graham can’t crack the Wannabe Top Four –
and now the Washington Times reports they are
fading in home states too. Headline from
yesterday’s Times: “Home support falls for
hopefuls Graham, Edwards” Excerpts from
report by the Times’ Stephen Dinan and Charles
Hunt: “The two Democrats running for president
next year who are also up for re-election to
the Senate are losing support back home
because of positions they have taken on the
national campaign trail. Sen. Bob Graham of
Florida and Sen. John Edwards of North
Carolina have cast votes and made statements
unpopular back home, and polls suggest both
could be vulnerable if they choose to run
again for their Senate seats. A
Mason-Dixon poll last week showed Mr.
Graham with his lowest approval rating in more
than a decade, while in North Carolina,
Rep. Richard Burr, a Republican running to
unseat Mr. Edwards, has steadily closed
the gap between himself and Mr. Edwards
in Raleigh News-Observer polls during the last
six months. Mr. Edwards and Mr.
Graham have time before public pressure
or, in the case of Mr. Graham, state
law, forces them to choose between their
presidential or Senate bids. And with the
election more than a year away, they have
time to rebuild from what they say is a
natural dip in the polls at home anytime a
senator from a moderate state campaigns among
the country's more liberal Democratic primary
voters. But Republicans are tallying up
the votes and public statements and awaiting
their campaigns. ‘[Bob Graham] has given so
many 30-second ads we wouldn't know what to do
with them,’ said Chris Paulitz, spokesman for
Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican who is
running for the Republican nomination for the
Senate seat. He pointed to Mr. Graham's
support for a filibuster to block the
confirmation of the first Hispanic federal
appeals court judge and the senator's
opposition to the Medicare bill that passed
the Senate. And then there are Mr. Graham's
rhetorical attacks on President Bush, in which
he questioned the president's honesty and
suggested he should be impeached for
misleading the nation into war. ‘The people
of Florida are starting to realize that the
man running for president is not the same guy
that was a two-term governor and a sitting
senator that a broad cross-section of
Floridians were voting for,’ said Paul
Seago, political director for Bill McCollum,
another Republican seeking the seat. Last
week's Mason-Dixon poll showed Mr. Graham
with 53 percent job approval — down from 63
percent last year. For his part, Mr.
Edwards faces similar poll numbers and the
same questions about votes and rhetoric. Visiting
the site last week of the shuttered Pillowtex
Corp. textile mill in Kannapolis, N.C., where
4,000 jobs were lost, Mr. Edwards had to
defend his vote made several years ago to
grant permanent normalized trade relations
with China. Workers blame free-trade
agreements for sending textile jobs overseas
in recent years. Mr. Edwards said he
stood by his vote and urged that federal money
be expedited to the laid-off workers. But few
episodes more clearly show the divergence
between the national and local audiences than
when Mr. Edwards told the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People's annual convention last month he was
‘tired of Democrats walking away from
President Bill Clinton, who did an
extraordinary job of lifting up and reaching
out to all of the American people.’ Ferrell
Blount, the new chairman of the North Carolina
Republican Party, said Mr. Edwards can
expect to see that used in a campaign: ‘Bill
Clinton — I don't know if I'd go so far to say
despised, but he certainly is not a revered
individual in the state.’”(8/13/2003)
…
Another bad
day – and more unfavorable commentary – for
Edwards as his chances for Dem nod fade and
reports say GOP “smells blood” in the NC
political water.
Under the
headline “The
Fight Of John Edwards’ Life,”
a RealClearPolitics.com commentary noted that
things aren’t looking up for the NC wannabe.
Excerpt: “The way things are shaping up,
John Edwards could really be screwed.
Despite raising tons of trial lawyer money
he's been unable to make any headway in the
polls over the last few months. In national
surveys he's averaging about 5% (slightly
behind Al Sharpton), and running sixth out
of the nine candidates in the field. In key
primary states Edwards is fairing even worse,
running a distant fourth in Iowa (5%) and
almost off the radar screen in New Hampshire
(2%). The only bit of good news Edwards
has gotten recently came from an
ARG poll of South Carolina released
this week showing him moving into second place
at 10%, even though
Zogby's last SC poll in late July
had him generating a paltry 5% support and
running behind Lieberman, Gephardt,
and Sharpton. Meanwhile, back in
North Carolina things aren't any better. State
Democrats have become
increasingly nervous and frustrated
by Edwards' unwillingness to commit to either
running for reelection to the Senate (by
pulling the plug on his Presidential run or
running concurrent campaigns) or to stepping
aside and clearing the way for somebody else.
They have good reason to be nervous.
Edwards
poll numbers in his home state are
atrocious: he's sporting a 32% reelect, a
41% unfavorable, and a majority of voters
(51%) disapprove of his running for president.
Oh, and by the way, in a hypothetical matchup
Edwards loses his home state to Bush by
18 points...An inability to hold on to a
vast majority of the African-American vote in
North Carolina spells certain doom for
Democrats. It doesn't help matters that the
party's lone Senator is off campaigning around
the country instead of mending fences at home.
On the other side, the GOP smells blood in the
water.
Republican Congressman Richard Burr
already has $3 million in the bank and trails
Edwards by only 11 points in the latest
polls. Edwards knows he's in dire
straits. This past week he
launched ads in both Iowa and New Hampshire
to try and boost his sagging numbers. But
if he can't turn around his campaign for
president, or if he hangs on too long trying
and does irreparable harm to his Senate
reelection bid, the best Edwards can hope for
is that a Northeastern liberal like Dean or
Kerry wins the nomination and picks up the
phone to round out the ticket. John Edwards is
in the fight of his life: either he will
become the next Vice-President of the United
States or his political career will be over.”(8/14/2003)
… In Iowa –
where pro-trade policies are pushed by farmers
and commodity groups – Edwards and Gephardt
brag about leading the fight against trade.
Headline from this morning’s The Union
Leader: “Democrats court key labor vote”
Excerpts of coverage from Iowa Federation of
Labor convention in Waterloo by AP’s
Mike Glover: “Six Democratic
presidential candidates sketched out
differences on health care and trade Wednesday
as they competed for the backing of organized
labor, which is key to securing the party's
nomination. North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards and Missouri Rep. Richard
Gephardt bragged that they've led the
fight against trade deals, saying the deals
resulted in American jobs being shipped
overseas and declining wages. The two men
criticized their rivals who have supported
trade pacts in the past. ‘Most of them
were for those treaties when they were before
Congress,’ said Gephardt, wagging his
finger. Added Edwards: ‘There are a lot
of Democrats have never seen a trade agreement
they didn't like.’ Trade is a key issue for
organized labor because an effort to expand
the North American Free Trade Agreement is
pending before Congress. Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry conceded that he had voted for
trade agreements during the Clinton
administration, but argued that he now
opposes expansion of those agreements. ‘During
the Clinton years I voted for trade, but we
have seen a sea change over those years,’
Kerry said. Florida Sen. Bob Graham
said he would push for protections in any
trade agreements negotiated with other
countries. ‘If we have a level playing field,
we can win,’ he said. Kerry, Graham and
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman all voted in
favor of the original NAFTA, but Kerry and
Graham argued that it is now time for
additional protections. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean said he supported
NAFTA because it was good for his state.
Dean now wants labor and environmental
standards added to it. Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich said he would pull out of the World
Trade Organization and cancel NAFTA altogether.
‘Anyone who talks about changing it doesn't
know what he's talking about,’ he said.
Kerry and Graham argued that Gephardt's $200
billion-plus plan to expand the nation's
health care system was too expensive,
although all of the candidates have their own
plans to fix the system.” (8/14/2003)
… Without Snow White,
seven Dem dwarfs show up at Drake University
to discuss their health care plans (for
probably the 4,850th time) and attack the
president (for probably the 629,382nd time).
Headline from this morning’s Union Leader:
“Democratic rivals joust on health care”
Coverage – an excerpt datelined Des
Moines – by AP’s Mike Glover: “Seven
Democratic presidential nominees used an Iowa
political forum Thursday to offer deeply
personal pitches for revamping the nation's
health system and to bash President Bush and
large pharmaceutical companies. Most of
the major Democratic candidates have offered
plans to expand the nation's health care
system, and would finance their efforts by
repealing various portions of the tax cut the
president pushed through Congress.
‘America has a choice, it can have tax cuts
for the wealthiest Americans or health care
for all Americans,” Massachusetts Sen. John
Kerry told the gathering of health care
advocates. Kerry used his recent bout
with prostate cancer and the expensive
treatment he got for the disease as an example
of why the system needs to be changed. ‘We
must stop being the only industrial nation in
the world that does not understand that health
care is not a privilege, it is a right,’
he said. Florida Sen. Bob Graham has
health issues of his own, undergoing major
heart surgery before he entered the race.
‘Clearly one of the challenges facing America
is making health care affordable and
accessible to all,’ Graham said. ‘That
is a goal to which we all should be
committed.’ Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt
pointed to his son's bout with cancer, and
called health care a ‘moral issue.’…’It is
immoral in this country to have people not
have health care,’ Gephardt shouted.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a doctor,
said he wanted the whole country to have
health care like Vermont, which has health
coverage for all youngsters and subsidized
care for the working poor. ‘It can pass,’
Dean said. ‘I'm tired of having
Democrats tilt at windmills.’ Dean later
had one of his more colorful days on the
campaign trail, as 200 people packed a local
blues club to watch him play harmonica and
guitar. Dean accompanied two other performers
on two songs, including one written
specifically for his campaign. He quietly
sang along with lyrics like ‘Dean for
America’ and ‘losing my mind from being
left behind.’ Former Illinois Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich
offered their pitch for a single-payer,
government-run health care system, where
health coverage isn't tied to the
workplace…North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
touted his $53 billion plan to offer tax
credits to help pay for insurance costs and
argued that Bush's health care plans are
likely dictated by political adviser Karl
Rove…Gephardt also complained that giant
pharmaceutical companies influence Bush's
health care plans. ‘They put $70 million
into the campaigns only of Republicans,’
Gephardt said. ‘It's time to kick the
moneychangers out of the temples of
government.’” (8/15/2003)
… Life doesn’t get
any easier for Edwards – especially with
national AP reports that his campaign is at “a
do-or-die stage.” Headline from this
morning’s The Union Leader: “Edwards
readies do-or-die presidential campaign”
Excerpts from report – dateline Charles
City – by AP’s Ron Fournier: “Though
one of the most inexperienced 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. But his
candidacy has not caught on…His
campaign is at a do-or-die stage as he tries
to improve his standing. This is when the
millionaire trial lawyer, second among the
field's fund-raisers, must translate his
advantages into support. ‘The next two or
three months are critical,’ Edwards said
aboard his huge campaign bus that is carrying
his wife and two kids through Iowa and New
Hampshire the next two weeks. 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. When the ads run
their course, another round is likely to
follow. ‘I want to make sure the voters
know me, where I'm from and what my vision
is,’ Edwards said. ‘For the first
time, I'm communicating with voters in Iowa in
New Hampshire.’ Edwards barely
registers in national and state polls, and
suffers from a perception among some Democrats
that he offers nothing more than a slick
presentation. 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…The fall
buildup includes Edwards' formal announcement
in mid-September. He also is expected
to soon announce his intentions for his Senate
seat, which is up for election in 2004.
Party leaders in North Carolina are pressing
him to make way for a Democrat to seek his
seat. Edwards wouldn't tip his hand
Thursday, but he sounds and acts like a man
willing to let another Democrat try for the
Senate as he shoots for the presidency.
‘I'm in this for the long haul,’ he said.” (8/15/2003)
Edwards
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Edwards Aug. 16-31, 2003
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