Tag: John Edwards (page 6)

They hugged as Obama left John Edwards' home after their sit-down today. Elizabeth was at the meeting too.

More tea-leaf reading anyone? Will Edwards wait until after March 4 and Ohio and Texas to announce his endorsement or will he give a much needed boost to Obama in those states? Or, could he be considering endorsing Hillary?

Update: While Obama used the downtime from the weather to fly to N.C. to meet John Edwards and ask for his endorsement, Hillary "pressed the flesh" at local eateries and grocery stores in Wisconsin.

How important is Edwards' endorsement? Poll below.

ABC News reports Hillary Clinton went to John Edwards' home in North Carolina on Thursday to ask for his support. Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with him tomorrow.

Who will Edwards endorse if anyone? He seemed more aligned with Obama when he was in the campaign, but that was mostly on lobbyists. On poverty and health care, which were his main issues, I think Hillary is closer to him.

What could each offer John Edwards if elected to sweeten the pot? I doubt he wants to be Attorney General -- maybe Hillary can offer to let him be in charge of tweaking and getting universal health care through Congress. A health care czar?

Edwards is on now. He joins the Clintons in congratulating Barack Obama.

Now "the three of us move on" to February 5th.

He's in. Good for him. He's working really hard and he's got important things to say.

Poverty, health care, veterans, the middle class, the homeless, people who want to go to college, "your voice will be heard in this campaign." That is so much more reassuring to me than hope and change.

He ends with, if you haven't yet voted on Feb. 5, "your voice will be heard and we will be there with you."

Update: Text of Edwards speech is here.

Beginning now, Big Tent Democrat and I are live-blogging the South Carolina Primary results and the media coverage of them. I'll be concentrating on the results and the demographics and electoral storylines. Big Tent will focus on the media coverage.

We're using a new platform, I described it here, and to make it wider, I've put it below the fold. Just click on the "there's more" link and join us. If you want to come back to it, here's the permalink for you to bookmark.

Here we go. [More...]

The Wall St. Journal interviewed Joe Trippi (free link), John Edwards senior campaign advisor, on Edwards' role as "kingmaker" at the Democratic Convention and his Feb. 5 strategy.

On the kingmaker issue: Trippi says their make or break delegate number for Feb. 6 is 200. He says it will be tough fro Edwards to win enough for the nomination, but that it is still possible.

More probable: arriving at the convention with enough delegates to tip the scales in favor of either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama. "Edwards is the primary force keeping Clinton under 50%," Mr. Trippi said. "Worst case? We go to the convention as the peacemaker, kingmaker, whatever you want to call it."

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John Edwards today said he's staying in the race, even though he got his "butt kicked" in Nevada. He said he makes no excuses for the loss. And, he reminds us, we're 3 states down with 47 to go. (Actually, Michigan makes it 4, although the results there like in Florida, may not count.)

Edwards arrived in South Carolina last night and will be campaigning there all week.

Edwards has put far more effort in South Carolina than Nevada, spending $2 million on advertising there -- twice what Clinton and Obama have spent there.

While Edwards said South Carolina was important, he said he would stay in the race even if he ran poorly there. "Absolutely," Edwards said on CNN's Late Edition. "I'm in it for the long haul."

South Carolina may be the end for John Edwards if he comes in third. It seems, once again, he's displaying his preference for Obama over Hillary. At a campaign event at a predominantly black Baptist church today Edwards said :

"I must say I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change that came not through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King but through a Washington politician. I fundamentally disagree with that," Edwards told more than 200 people gathered at a predominantly black Baptist church. ...."Those who believe that real change starts with Washington politicians have been in Washington too long and are living a fairy tale," he said.

and,

"As someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel an enormous amount of pride when I see the success that Senator Barack Obama is having in this campaign," said Edwards. He the added, with a laugh: "Some days I wish he was having a little less success."

There are still three contenders for the Democratic nomination. The third, John Edwards, hasn't been getting much press lately.

He's been campaigning in South Carolina, reminding people he was born there and understands their problems. A few hundred people turned out to hear him at one event today. As to being behind in the polls, he says:

....he was in fourth place at this time in 2004, and went on to win the state.

John Edwards was on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning. The money quote:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You've made such an issue on lobbyists, and we've talked about this in the past. But I have to press this a little bit. You're very careful. You say no corporate lobbyists in the White House, no lobbyists for foreign governments in the White House. Some of your biggest contributors are trial lawyers, and the Association of Trial Lawyers for America is the sixth largest lobbying group in the country, $6 million spent on lobbying. Six of your top fund-raisers are on the executive committee of that organization. Eighteen of your top fund-raisers are on their board of governors.
Will they be barred from the White House as well?
EDWARDS: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Really?
EDWARDS: Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Even though they have given you money? (CROSSTALK)
EDWARDS: There will be no lobbyist who's worked for the trial lawyers, no lobbyist who's worked for big corporations that will be working in my White House, period.

Is he saying it's okay to take the trial lawyers' money so long as after the election he doesn't hire their organization's lobbyists to work in the White House? Is that really the the issue?

John Mellencamp singing "Our Country" at the John Edwards event in Des Moines last night. And here's Elizabeth Edwards introducing her beaming husband.

Update: Here's Mellencamp singing "Pink Houses."

Update: Also check out Jane's post on the Edwards event last night and Huckabee event the night before.

[Videos since removed]

John Edwards was the rock star tonight in Des Moines. Mellencamp did a great warm-up, Elizabeth did a worthy introduction, but Edwards owned the night. He had that fire in the belly, the kind of passion you just can't make up. The crowd knew it too.

I'll have video much later or in the morning. Right now the bar downstairs is packed and that's where I'm headed.

Update, 2:00 am Iowa Time: The bar was hopping. Bill Clinton was holding court in the lobby outside the bar with Susan Estrich holding his arm, trying to get him upstairs-- only at the same time he was engaged in a discussion with Fox News' Greta Van Susteran (who looked terrific) that ended with Clinton describing his cowboy boot collection. (More....)

What happens on January 4 if Edwards wins, even wins convincingly? How does that play out? I have long believed that Edwards and Obama are competing for the Hillary alternative slot in this contest. The spread and the spin will be important of course but a win is a win and a win for Edwards gives him a leg up over Obama. But what if Obama finishes second? That would obviously be better than finishing third but still would be damaging to Obama in my view. Unless Hillary gets drubbed in Iowa, and that seems unlikely at this point, she is not going away. And now Obama would be at a disadvantage to Edwards in New Hampshire and beyond for the contest to be the Hillary alternative.

In my mind Barack Obama has been saddled with a terrible campaign team, starting with the awful David Axelrod. In November and December, Obama had a real chance to put Edwards away after Edwards made the mistake (and I still feel it was a mistake, Edwards could have been making this surge without riskig his campaign) of attacking Hillary Clinton personally. Edwards dropped, as did Clinton, Obama rose and in fact opened a healthy lead in Iowa. Instead of pressing this advantage and coopting Edwards' themes and occupying his argument to be the Hillary alternative, Obama continued with his muddled KUMBAYA message, allowing Edwards the space he needed to mount the impressive drive he is now in.

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