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John Edwards almost became Al Gore's running mate in 2000

As a popular Southern Democrat, Edwards has the potential to break the Republican lock on the South that cost Al Gore every Southern state, despite his being a Southerner himself.

a GOP consultant with North Carolina ties, readily concedes that "Edwards has got a lot of Bill Clinton in him---without the ethical or moral problems."

In the 2000 election cycle, Democrats received 98 percent of the nearly $15 million that trial lawyers gave to candidates,

Edwards did get into law school at the University of North Carolina, where he met his wife, Elizabeth, and his future law partner, David Kirby.

Upon graduating, he moved to Tennessee to join former Republican Governor Lamar Alexander's law firm

In 1981, he returned to North Carolina, specifically to the politically well-connected Raleigh law firm of Wade Smith, a former Democratic Party state chairman, where he started a rapidly successful civil litigation division. He won his first multi-million dollar verdict in 1984, which he followed the next year with a $6.5 million verdict for a 6-year-old girl who'd suffered brain damage at Pitt Memorial Hospital---at the time, the largest verdict in state history. Edwards left in 1993 to start his own firm with Kirby.

More than half his cases were medical malpractice suits. Many involved infants born with brain damage or other serious conditions that entail a lifetime of expensive medical care. Edwards also won cases against hospitals, cities, and corporations.

In 1990, he was the youngest member inducted into The Inner Circle of Advocates, an invitation-only group of the nation's top 100 trial lawyers. By the mid-1990s, Edwards had become legendary.

It is said that insurance companies would suddenly become interested in settling when Edwards' name was added to a plaintiff's team. Edwards won a $7 million verdict for the parents of a 16-year-old who'd killed himself the day after being dismissed from a psychiatric hospital, an incredibly difficult case to win, Dayton says, because in North Carolina the plaintiff must prove that the entire burden of negligence lies with the defendant. In 1997, Edwards successfully sued a doctor for $23 million on behalf of the parents of a baby severely brain damaged by oxygen deprivation during labor.

a close friend and fellow attorney says that, before running for Senate, Edwards had a team of doctors and nurses privately screen his record to make sure that no case he'd brought to trial could be considered frivolous:

Edwards' opening speech at the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's annual convention in Montreal vividly captured the odd mixture of professional pride and paranoia that distinguishes the modern trial bar. "For 20 years I fought for the rights and dignity of ordinary people, just like everyone in this room," Edwards told a standing-room-only crowd. "I make no apologies for what I spent my life doing. I am proud of what I did: leveling the playing field." The convention buzzed with excitement over the Ford/Firestone suits, which all agreed was a public relations coup, and the new avenues for lawsuits that Edwards' patients' rights bill would create. There was much talk of "helping the little guy." Edwards left the podium to shouts of "Edwards for president!" And just before the convention's awards luncheon---at which no fewer than three trial lawyers' groups presented awards to the attorneys who sued Firestone---one of the lawyers paused to read an invocation: "You created us, Lord, not to accumulate treasure for ourselves, but to do your work." Then the conventioneers split up to learn the newest ways to sue over hip implants, misdiagnosed breast cancer, recalled drugs, herbal remedies, substandard nursing homes, pesticide poisoning, and train derailments.

Edwards himself won't discuss what or how he charges clients. Like other personal-injury lawyers, he worked on a contingency basis, whereby he earned nothing if he lost, but stood to receive between 30 and 40 percent of the award if he won. But he's never accepted that such information should be part of the public record. He has boasted---and why not?---of winning large sums for deserving plaintiffs ($152.4 million in 63 cases, by one count), but refuses to reveal his own take. Disclosure statements filed when he ran for the Senate established his net worth to be somewhere between $13.7 million and $38.6 million.

In 1997, a botched childbirth resulted in a state record $23.5 million award, setting off a runaway train of jury malpractice awards in North Carolina. John Edwards was the plaintiff's counsel. He broke his own record that same year with a $30 million award.

Some doctors and hospitals have found a solution to insurance costs by requiring patients to sign waivers submitting any claims to private arbitrators. But trial lawyer lobbyists are trying to nix that remedy, too, and have begun to push Congress for anti-arbitration legislation.

This lobby is closely tied to Edwards. According to the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, 86 percent of the $1.39 million raised by Edwards' recently formed political action committee came from fellow trial lawyers. Roll Call writes, "No other Congressional leader or potential presidential contender has such a heavy reliance on a single industry for their leadership PAC."

Additionally, Edwards was a chief co-sponsor of the "Patients Bill of Rights" legislation. The Edwards-sponsored version of the bill would have permitted patients to sue health care providers for punitive damages in federal court — allowing lawyers to circumvent state court caps on punitive damages like those enacted in North Carolina. The Employment Policy Foundation estimated at the time that the Edwards bill would result in 56,000 new lawsuits per year, a $16 billion increase in health care costs, and nine million more Americans with no health care coverage at all.

Trial lawyers, of course, loved it.

Edwards' background wouldn't be so important to his presidential ambitions if he weren't so blatant about mischaracterizing it. He talks about "helping the helpless," but in fact, he built his fortune and paved his way to politics chasing doctors out of the medical profession. Lots of those "helpless" people he mentions live in low-income areas without access to the health care they need.

Edwards, the junior senator from North Carolina, is the hot new Democrat in Washington. A member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Edwards also is a cosponsor of the McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Patients' Bill of Rights. As John Kennedy was nearly the vice presidential nominee in 1956, so Edwards was on Al Gore's short list in 2000. Like JFK, Edwards has used his near-miss as a launch vehicle toward the big prize.

The key reason why Sen. Edwards has a decent chance to play Bill Clinton against this President Bush is his access to money. North Carolina is a medium-sized state, but Edwards has a national organization of trial lawyers to draw on for financial and campaign support. This is critical for success in the new system where candidates without great personal wealth or a rich-state base have difficulty staying in the race. Just ask John McCain.

"Edwards' days in the courtroom are behind him, but he is relying heavily on colleagues from around the country as he preps for a 2004 presidential bid. More than $4 of every $5 raised by Edwards' political action committee, New American Optimists, has come from lawyers or their family members." (John Wagner, "Lawyers Fill Edwards' Pockets," The [Raleigh] News & Observer, May 1, 2002)

"Of the $461,000 raised in the April 24, 2002 statement, $426,000 of it, over 90% was contributions from trial lawyer friends of Edwards." (Internal Revenue Service Website, www.irs.gov)

"Edwards has been on a fundraising frenzy over the last three months, raising nearly $2 million in 'soft money' -- the type of donation soon to be banned, with three-quarters of it coming from trial lawyers." (Jim VandeHei, "Trial Lawyers Fund Edwards," The Washington Post, September 3, 2002)

"Steve Bing, a Hollywood producer and top Democratic donor, sent Edwards a $250,000 check. But nearly every other dollar donated to Edwards' soft-money account since early 2001 came from trial lawyers -- $1,859,000 to be precise, according to the Public Citizen analysis." (Jim VandeHei, "Trial Lawyers Fund Edwards," The Washington Post, September 3, 2002)

Since The 1998 Election Cycle, Edwards' Senatorial Committee Has Raised At Least $3.9 Million From Lawyers And Lobbyists.

1998 Cycle: At least $ 900,280 (50% of all contributions)

2000 Cycle: At least $ 1.3 million (50% of all contributions)

2002 Cycle: At least $ 1.7 million (50% of all contributions)

(The Center For Responsive Politics Website, www.opensecrets.org, Accessed July 20, 2002)

"Edwards' advisers get almost giddy when talking about the potential for turning ATLA [American Trial Lawyers Association] contributors into presidential donors next year, when White House fund raising gets under way in earnest." (John Wagner, "Edwards Looks To Lawyers," The [Raleigh] News & Observer, June 28, 2002)

Personal Injury Trial Lawyer Fred Baron Donated $100,000 To Edwards' New American Optimists PAC During The Second Quarter Of 2002. (New American Optimists PAC, 8872 2nd Quarter Filing, July 18, 2002)

Senator John Edwards Has Been Actively Courting Baron To Play A Lead Role In His Upcoming Presidential Political Fundraising. "In a related development, the Edwards camp has been courting Dallas lawyer Fred Baron to play a lead role in fund raising. Baron, a former president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, previously helped both President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore in their respective White House bids. Baron said he's been impressed by Edwards but is also friendly with House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri and U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, both of whom are also considering presidential runs." (Joseph Neff and John Wagner, "Edwards Coming Home," The [Raleigh] News And Observer, September 19, 2002)

Baron Has Described Senator Edwards As "The Whole Package" And Has Praised His Ability To Articulate The Democrat Message. "Baron said he was willing to help Edwards because he has great skill in talking about issues that Democrats should be promoting. 'I feel like John articulates the message as well as anyone,' Baron said at a gathering in Atlanta of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, a group he once led. 'John's the whole package. He's a great messenger, and he gets the message.'" (John Wagner, "Big Donors Fuel Edwards' Fund-Raising Machine," The [Raleigh]News And Observer, August 15, 2002)

Baron Calls For Jihad. "Fred Baron has 10,000 asbestos clients - probably more than any other lawyer in the US - and he has a simple message for those lobbying Washington's lawmakers to make it harder to bring his cases to court. 'There will be a jihad,' he says. 'We will fight them with everything we've got.'" ("Special Report The Asbestos Crisis - Growing Chorus Demands Change In Law," Financial Times, September 9, 2002)

Baron's Law Firm Is The Subject Of A Racketeering Suit. "Several major players in the asbestos plaintiffs' bar, including Dallas' Baron & Budd, have been sued for allegedly threatening to sabotage pending settlements with a company that pressed for federal legislation aimed at capping recoveries and fees." The racketeering complaint, filed on Jan. 10, 2001, in the Southern District of New York, alleges that principals of Baron & Budd and others threatened a "nuclear response" if the target of their asbestos claims persisted in supporting the now-stalled Fairness in Asbestos Compensation Act. Fred Baron denied the allegations and calls them "garbage." The heart of the claim, however, is a memorandum issued by Baron's firm that allegedly instructs clients falsely to claim equal exposure to all products and directs that clients should deny that they ever saw warnings or had any knowledge concerning the harmful effects of asbestos. "Baron says the memo, which first surfaced in 1997 after a Baron & Budd lawyer mistakenly turned it over to defense counsel during discovery, is 'old news.'" (Mark Hamblett, "Baron & Budd Lawyers Named In Civil RICO Suit," Texas Lawyer, January 22, 2001)

Baron's Law Firm's "Witness Coaching" Memorandum Is Smoking Gun In RICO Case. "After asbestos claims forced the parent company of GAF Materials Corp., the largest U.S. roofing materials company, into bankruptcy this year, it sued three law firms. The complaint reads like a Sopranos episode, alleging that the trial lawyers threatened to crush any company pushing for asbestos tort reform under an avalanche of new claims. It also alleges that doctors reading X-rays for one law firm received sexual favors from female paralegals and secretaries. . . .But the real smoking gun is a memo that GAF alleges law firm Baron & Budd used to prepare witnesses. The memo details facts that all clients, regardless of their actual experience, should testify to and comments all should avoid. . . . Partner Fred Baron says few people were shown the document: 'A paralegal did a memo she should not have done.'" (Pamela Sherrid, "Looking For Some Million Dollar Lungs," U.S. News & World Report, December 17, 2001)

Baron Calls Controversial Practice Of Capturing Clients Through Mass Screenings "Wonderful." Since asymptomatic cases had become valuable, plaintiffs' lawyers began seeking them out. Since the mid-1980s, they have been organizing mass screenings of potential clients, often with the cooperation of labor unions. After being offered a free chest X-ray, a. worker would typically be asked to sign a retainer agreement, promising to be represented by a certain law firm if the X-ray came back positive for asbestos-related disease. "There was nothing illegal or unethical in itself about staging mass screenings, and plaintiffs lawyers straight-facedly claimed that they provided a benefit to society. 'I think it's a wonderful thing,' says Fred Baron . . . head of Dallas-based Baron & Budd, which now handles about 12,000 asbestos cases." (Roger Parloff and Ellen Florian, "The $200 Billion Miscarriage Of Justice," Fortune Magazine, March 4, 2002)

Democrat backers behind Edwards
CHARLES HURT
Observer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is raking in millions from Hollywood moguls, Wall Street execs and lawyers -- many of whom are heavyweight Democratic donors that once bankrolled Al Gore's presidential election.

In the second quarter that just ended, Edwards' political action committee got one check for $250,000 and five more for $100,000 each. All told, he received 31 checks of $25,000 or more, according to financial reports released last week.

Edwards' total take for the quarter was $2.7 million, bringing his total cash on hand to $4.4 million.

To political observers, the cash infusion suggests Edwards has potential to make a real presidential run.

Among Edwards' top donors this quarter:

• Steven Bing, Hollywood movie mogul, gave Edwards the $250,000 check. He is one of the most generous donors in the Democratic Party's history, giving more than $5 million this year alone.

Los Angeles attorney Bruce Broillet held a fund-raiser in his home for Gore during the last election that raised $500,000. He recently wrote Edwards' political committee a check for $50,000.

• Daniel Neidich of Goldman Sachs and Google chairman Eric Schmidt each wrote Edwards checks for $25,000. Each has given more than $100,000 to the party, its candidates and Gore in recent years.

• Frederick Baron, a Houston lawyer and past president of the American Trial Lawyers Association, gave Edwards $100,000. In past years, Baron has given $300,000 to Gore and the party.

Baron and a group of Edwards' supporters joined for a weekend at St. Simons island off the coast of Georgia.

Texas has proved especially receptive to Edwards' message about "helping the little guy who always played by the rules." He raised more than $640,000 from Texas lawyers alone.

By raising more money than anyone else, Edwards has proved he's a real presidential contender, said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report, a Washington newsletter.

He raised eight times as much as Gore and nearly five times as much as Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Gore's vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Edwards also outraised other potential Democratic presidential contenders, according to the campaign numbers released last week.

About $1.9 million raised this quarter came in so-called "soft money" donations, which are large contributions that cannot be spent to directly promote his candidacy. But that's the best way to prove you can raise money, Duffy said.

Already, Edwards has spent about $100,000 of his soft money to buy hundreds of computers for Democratic party workers in key primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

among "progressive" voters -- Edwards wound up getting beaten by activist Al Sharpton.

In another poll, conducted by Hotline online political daily, Edwards was 17 percentage points behind Bush -- in North Carolina.

Sun, Jul. 28, 2002