Posted on 02/06/2005 10:40:48 AM PST by bitt
Undeclared but eager, ex-senator debuts speech, core beliefs
Three months after losing the last national election, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards effectively began his campaign for the next one Saturday night.
Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee last year, rolled out a new stump speech at a state Democratic Party dinner, acknowledging the critics who say the party doesn't stand for anything. The party's future, he declared, is in asserting bedrock moral principles, such as lifting Americans out of poverty, a message he will take across the country in the coming months.
"What the country is looking for in its leaders, and certainly in its president," Edwards said in an interview before his speech, "they're looking for people who have a strong set of beliefs, who have core convictions and a passion for them and a willingness to fight for them."
Bill Clinton's "triangulation" or "third way" between liberals and conservatives dominated the Democratic Party for the past decade. Edwards, however, wants to steer Democrats away from policy nuances and targeting segments of the public -- advocating core beliefs instead of chasing NASCAR dads.
"It's in contrast with people who believe the way the Democratic Party should go in the future is engage in some kind of strategic maneuvering," he said. "I just think that's dead wrong."
His speech, delivered in the state that holds the pivotal first presidential primary, is just the latest move as Edwards positions himself for a second run at the White House. He has similar appearances lined up in Florida later this month and Connecticut in April. He has kept himself in the media spotlight, conducted conspicuously timed interviews and even made a stop at a high school basketball game Friday night to cheer on the Manchester High School West's Blue Knights.
(Excerpt) Read more at charlotte.com ...
"There's no such thing as too early," said New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a leading state Democratic figure who backed Edwards in 2004 and still does. "Out of sight is out of mind in our business. So you're never out of sight."
Edwards, who has not said whether he will run in 2008, cautioned that he was invited to New Hampshire by the state Democratic Party. He is saying thank you to supporters, he said.
On Friday, UNC Chapel Hill announced that Edwards will head a new center on alleviating poverty, a constant theme in his run for the presidency last year before losing the nomination to Kerry. Edwards gave up his U.S. Senate seat to run for president, so the center, identified as nonpartisan, will give him a platform from which he can talk about and advance ideas.
"What Senator Edwards needs to do is engage in those kinds of policy issues," said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sullivan, who said Edwards' departure from the capital could have a silver lining. "There is an anti-Washington feeling out there. It's probably a good thing for Senator Edwards not to be sitting in the United States Senate at this time."
Edwards' call for enunciating a core set of beliefs may sound like a shot at Kerry, the man who picked Edwards for the No. 2 spot. But Edwards doesn't say it that way and instead praises Kerry, who has not ruled out running again. Edwards agreed, though, that President Bush succeeded in appearing to stick to his beliefs.
"He did convince some people," Edwards said, "that he believed in what he was trying to do."
Edwards finished fourth in the New Hampshire primary, but support for him remains strong, Sullivan said. In the primary, 16,641 voters went as far as to write in Edwards for vice president even though the ballot didn't even include that category.
Other backers, however, now have doubts. Rick Keating, dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at New England College in Henniker, raised money for Edwards and helped arrange for Edwards to speak at Keating's son's high school. November's loss and Edwards' lack of a public office now has shifted Keating's thinking.
"I don't know if John can win anymore," Keating said, but he still planned to come hear Edwards speak.
Mark Johnson: (704) 358-5941 or mjohnson@charlotteobserver.com.
A Biopsy for Edwards' Mole
John Edwards, whose wife is being treated for breast cancer, had a cancer scare of his own, albeit far less serious.
Edwards had a prominent mole on his upper lip biopsied for possible skin cancer after his doctor told him it had changed in size. The test showed the mole to be benign. The biopsy was done after the election and after his wife, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Edwards said the test was briefly worrisome, but "compared to Elizabeth, it was nothing."
The top of the growth was shaved off to conduct the test, so the end result is that the mole is now much smaller and less noticeable.
Edwards, who could not win his home state of North Carolina, will not be a force in American politics. He had a chance and proved himself a lightweight.
Oh, I can't wait to see Edwards and ole Hillary at each others throats.
LOL
OK....you got me. What are you inferring?
:)
Yaaaaay, hillereee, dean, kerry, gore maybe? and now the breck girl? Wow, this just keeps getting better and better.
Run, Forrest, Run!
Ah yes, I can't wait for "Mr. Hair" to drawl, "To the terrorists I say, with proper U.N. permission, we will destroy yew."
Strikes fear into the hearts of...Americans.
don't forget the rest of that crew of jokers.
What in the world does that mean?????/
And this after he was sooooo impressive as Undertaker Kerry's second banana nominee... < /sarc>
Losing Vice Presidential candidates have such a great track record when they go for the big job./sarcasm
<>g<> Interesting tho that we already have
Clinton, Kerry, and Edwards firing up for
Dem. favor in three years. Last time we
had a dozen on the podium...will Kucinich
try it again? Sharpton? Bayh is also
considering a run. Could we have another
long list of "picks" for the Dem voter to mull over?
It means I could handle him running if we get to see more of Cate! I think she's kind of hot!
Yes, since the 12th amendment became effective in 1804, there has been a grand total of one vice presidential nominee on a losing ticket who has later won the presidency--Franklin D. Roosevelt, V.P. candidate in 1920.
Edwards is destined to degenerate into yet another failed candidate who's always running for something. He has to be the most overrated candidate in history. The liberal media wrote of him as though he were Cicero, but Dick Cheney cleaned his clock in the debate.
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