Posted on 12/23/2006 7:17:55 PM PST by MadIvan
Against the storm-ravaged backdrop of a New Orleans district, John Edwards will this week become the first Democrat heavyweight to announce his 2008 White House run.
The declaration by Mr Edwards, a former senator and his party's vice-presidential candidate in 2004, will kick off a season of official announcements in coming weeks by the major contenders for the Democrat and Republican nominations.
The choice of New Orleans, where life is barely back to normal 16 months after Hurricane Katrina, is a clear signal that some Democrats will seek to tar rival Republicans with what many see as the Bush administration's inept handling of the crisis.
For Mr Edwards, a -boyish-looking 53-year-old with a folksy southern charm, the location will allow him to highlight the populist, anti-poverty and pro-union platform that he has carved out on his party's Left.
Unless former vice-president Al Gore makes a late entry into the fray – perhaps on the back his successful global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth — Mr Edwards is likely to be one of the big three challengers for the Democrat nomination.
Barack Obama, the black 45-year-old Illinois senator and current political sensation, is on holiday over Christmas in his multi--ethnic birthplace of Hawaii, an important symbolic destination as he discusses with his wife Michelle whether to ride the media wave.
A father of two young daughters, he has said he will reveal his plans early next month after assessing the impact a presidential campaign would have on his family. He recently had the first taste of the negative campaigning he would face, when he was forced to admit to making "bone-headed" mistakes over a Chicago land deal with a disgraced party operative.
The Democrats' long-time frontrunner, Sen Hillary Clinton, has also indicated that she will make her plans clear early next year. But since the former First Lady has continued adding heavyweight Democrat operatives to her team, nobody doubts that she will run.
Mr Edwards has taken the risky decision of launching his second presidential run in the normally slow news week between Christmas and New Year in the hope of stealing a march on his rivals, who have become the objects of lavish media attention.
He trails behind the two serving senators in opinion polls of likely Democrat voters, but his backers believe he could claim the "anti-Hillary" mantle among the party faithful, who fear that Mrs Clinton will not win a national election. His "admission" that he was wrong to back President George W Bush's decision to invade Iraq — in contrast to the former First Lady's tortuous attempts to justify her "yes" vote – has won him strong backing among grassroots activists, who play a key role in the primary election process.
Mr Edwards has been out of office since he stepped down as senator for North Carolina to run for president in 2004, and has used the time to court voters assiduously in the key states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where the first party primary and caucus votes are held. His legwork has paid off, giving him a 20 per cent lead over Mrs Clinton in Iowa, where the 2008 campaign begins in earnest in 13 months' time.
He also has the kind of compelling personal history that plays well in US politics. The son of working-class parents from South Carolina and the first member of his family to attend college, he became a millionaire trial lawyer before moving into politics.
His wife Elizabeth recently wrote a bestselling book about her successful battle with -cancer. The death of the couple's 16-year-old son, Wade, in a car accident in 1996, provides a further, sympathetic twist in the Edwards tale. They have three other children.
It is not just the season for declarations of candidacies, but also for withdrawals. Just two weeks after he had established a presidential exploratory committee, Sen Evan Bayh, a centrist Democrat, has now announced that he will not be running against the bigger names.
Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama are already amassing electoral war chests and securing major national profiles, leaving little space for lesser-known rivals. Other Democrats who have expressed an interest in running, but may soon pull out, include John Kerry, the failed 2004 nominee, and Joseph Biden, a perennial White House aspirant.
On the Republican front, the jockeying is no less intense. The current favourites, Sen John McCain, and the former New York mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, have both set up exploratory committees to investigate possible White House runs. The 2008 showdown will be the most open in decades, as neither the sitting president nor the vice-president is running.
You have a point there. I always hope that someone will emerge from the ether and lead us. I guess that is everyone's hope.
"populist" -- why don't they call him what he is: COMMUNIST.
Well, heck! And here, I thought that they were talking about Edwin Edwards.
Yeah!! Clean hair and higher taxes for all!!!
Sounds like everyone on this thread prefers Hillary. Go Hillary!
Don't you know ALL these rat idiots think they were born to be president, that it is their destiny!
I thought this was our Christmas JOKE! Oh, well, it gave me a good laugh!!!
What a nightmare.
Populist my little brown eye.
OK. and I'll apologise for Barak Hussein Osama Obama from Illinois.
As a lifelong citizen of California, with my two glittering fools (errrrr....jewels) as Senators, I'll "see" your apology and "raise you" another!
As a lifelong resident of Illinois, I'll see both your apologies & raise you two more for Dick Turbin and B. Hussein O'bama! Bet I win!!!
Other then making this announcement
Has Edwards even spent any time on NO??
I don't remember reading about him helping the folks down there
HUH! Are you sure you're on the right board?
he's too rich to be finished- he has to 'connect with the little guys' ya know http://sacredscoop.com
Can't call them that .. It just makes the moderate dems think you're part of the evil VRWC
Though mention socialists and give examples .. you'll get their attention better
I think his campaign will be extremely short-lived. He inherited J F'n Kerry's "gravitas".
LOL, could you imagine an Edwards/Obama ticket? The two oiliest, empty-suit scumbags on the political scene today on one ticket! Man, that would surely test the stupidometer, even for Democrats.
I still have the tape of Dick Cheney giving pony boy a spanking in the debate. It's awesome to watch.
Made Time Magazine's man of the year for 2006 too! Check out the issue if you don't believe me.
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