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.
Count how many times Edwards blinks during that debate. I think he blinks every time he tells a lie...
"Will be President for a PS3"
This bloke worries me more than anyone else. There's something decidedly "Bubba-ish" about him.
Edwards could take all before him...
As a lifelong inhabitant of Michigan, I'll see all of your apologys and raise you a few for Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, and David Bonoir.
I suspect that this is really nothing more than a propaganda puff piece written by a Edwards supporter who doesn't want to admit that Edwards's chances for the Oval Office are deader than Uday and Qusay.
John "Helium Baloon" Edwards will this week become the first Democrat heavyweight
The storm ravaging stopped some time ago.
Now it pretty much just sits and rots and stinks and gets moldy.
Agree. I take him very seriously. He was the smartest candidate in the '04 primaries. He is slicker that the Slickster himself. He has prior Presidential stump experience, name recognition, and he knows exactly how to play to irrational emotions. I think he WILL get the D nomination, because Hillary won't (she's burnt out politically, plus about 1/3 of the DEMS hate her).
That leaves Edwards as the most viable candidate. He has a source of lavish funding from the Trial Lawyers and his populist message will sell very well all across the spectrum of Democrats. The candidate who can draw support from traditional Dems and the far Left will be the nominee. And that man is John Edwards.
The good news is that no populist candidate has ever won the Presidency. But Edwards will con the entire Democratic Party, that's my assessment.
He has no Southern charm. I have heard ALL HIS VERSIONS of speaking "Southern," one phonier than the other. He isn't "folksy," either.
And why is this such a virtue now? The dims couldn't trip over themselves fast enough to point out that W was too Texan, therefore a rube.
Hey, I'm from California. We gave the nation Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein, Barb... NEVER MIND!!!! I'M GOING NOW!!!!!
Throw in kohl (ConfirmedBachelor-WI) and you can't win.
I can think of many adjectives to describe Mr. Edwards, but "heavyweight" ain't even in the top-ten. About three days of his trite Two Americas rhetoric, and I'll puke. John needs to buy a clue, and disappear.
No one is slicker than Slick himself
Clinton was a once in a generation charlatan
That said, Edwards should not be dismissed. In the end, I think it'll come down to him or Obama. Although, one can never count out Hillary.
If I was Barack or John, I'd stay away from Ft Marcy Park.
I think an Obama/Richardson ticket would be very formidable.
Given the dems record, though, they'll probably go with Clinton and lose again
He's an ambulance chaser and has made a fortune sueing baby doctors. He's a p.o.s.
Merry Christmas Mad man.
You do know his Diddy worked in a meal, didn't you?
You forgot to mention... Fallen arches, creeping crud and jungle rot.
I don't know...I will up you a Casey jr, Murtha, and a Fast Eddie. Sorry I think I win!!!!!
Edwards late with property taxes 9 times
Taxes are for the little people.
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