Posted on 07/06/2004 8:19:18 PM PDT by conservative in nyc
HOME STATE
REENSBORO, N.C., July 6 - At the lunch counter of the Brown-Gardiner drugstore here, there were registered Democrats and registered Republicans, the undecideds and the decidedly decideds, but when the subject turned to the sudden ascension of their one-term senator, John Edwards, to the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket, they were in agreement on quite a few points.
Principally, they agreed that Senator Edwards was a wise choice as running mate for Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, a perfect foil for the Northern, less charismatic Mr. Kerry, and perhaps, most significantly, potentially appealing to their region of the country.
"It'll help soften his real rough-biting Yankee image down South, because he's got a so-called Southern running mate," said Tom Gruehn, 62, a financial adviser and a Bush supporter, with a slight dig at his home state senator.
Jerry McNeill, 50, a Republican, said: "I think the idea is to carry the Southern vote. Unfortunately, it might work."
Whether Mr. Edwards's qualities were positive or negative depended very much on who was talking in this closely divided state, which voted for George W. Bush in 2000 but has a Democratic governor and a split legislature. Some believed that his effect on an audience was inspiring, others that it masked a lack of substance. "I wouldn't give him air in a jug" is how Floyd McCall, 63, put it.
A crucial question was whether Mr. Edwards could help deliver North Carolina for the Democratic ticket.
Brad Crone, a Democratic political consultant in Raleigh, N.C., said Mr. Edwards had proven capable of increasing turnout among Democrats, especially blacks. But Mr. Crone and other political experts said polls still showed that even with a native son on the ticket President Bush would carry the state, though by a much slimmer margin than in 2000.
At another lunch spot here, Kate McDiarmid, an estate-planning lawyer and a Democrat, said she liked Mr. Edwards but would have preferred a Kerry-McCain ticket. Other Democrats said they would have liked it if Senator Edwards had himself won the presidential nomination, and still others, particularly blacks, waxed nostalgic for Bill Clinton. Republicans questioned whether a trial lawyer with tens of millions of dollars, like Mr. Edwards, could be successfully portrayed as a man of the people.
Some debated whether Mr. Edwards deserved his place on the ticket. Many people interviewed mentioned the fact that Mr. Edwards, 51, has served only one term as senator, and spent much of his time recently on the campaign trail rather than in the Capitol.
"He's done a fairly decent job as a senator," ventured Steve Edwards, 54, a Democrat who voted for President Bush and who is not related to Senator Edwards.
"What's he done?" demanded Mr. McNeill, sitting next to Steve Edwards.
Mr. Edwards gave up immediately. "Well, that's true," he said.
Still, Senator Edwards is widely recognized as a homegrown political talent. Jewell Harris, a retired businesswoman who said she voted for George Bush in 2000 but was not likely to do so in 2004, called Mr. Edwards "wise" and "a brilliant young man."
"He has ambitions, true, but I think he cares for his fellow man," Ms. Harris said. "He has made it, yes, but he's done it through hard work. It wasn't handed to him."
Mr. Edwards gave up immediately. "Well, that's true," he said.
Definitely the best part of the article....
Yes it was, by people like Ms. Harris who were sitting on juries.
Yes, another brilliant mischaracterization of North Carolinians by the Old Grey Prostitute.
Here's a ping to the owners of the NC threads. You'll receive lively perspectives in the morning!
Yup: we southerners are still livin' in the 50's. We all eat lunch at drug store counters...
Ahhhh... perpetual folksiness...
Makes me want to sing Zippity-Do-Dah.
I would've been here sooner, but I had to get Sarah to connect me to this newfangled Inner-net thingamabob through a switchboard over in Mount Pilot.
Thats the crux of it.
On the other hand, his best work in the Senate has been all the votes he has missed.
What's this "work" business where Edwards is concerned? He hasn't been on the job he was elected to do. Absenteeism would get him fired pronto in the world of "regular" people.
Understood.
But since no one "fired" him, the next best thing is that he did not cast votes that hurt us all.
I hope NC will totally repudiate this ticket and give Bush more of a margin of victory than in 2000. I know I look forward to voting against the breck gurl one more time.
Mr. Edwards gave up immediately. "Well, that's true," he said.
Well McNeill can't really hold that against him. It's not like the other one has done anything either :)
Edwards is on the ticket for one reason only. To convince North Carolinians, and Southerners in general, that someone from up in those other states really does care what we think. Just one more scalawag to add to the bunch
I will not believe anything from the NYT, without a signed and noterised statement from each alleged participant in that conversation.
I won't even believe the drug store where the conversation allegedly took place, even exists until I see a copy of the deed.
Actually, Brown Gardiner sits on the fringes of Irving Park (money) and hosts a large contingent of Greensboro Country Club members. It is not what you are thinking. For this writer to choose this location is amazing to me.
...but the rest of the world that is reading the NYTimes won't know that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.