Edwards Has Missed More than Half of His Senate Votes in June

ABClocal.go.com ^ | Associated Press

[Rebelbase]

North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is on pace to miss more than half the Senate votes in a month for the first time since launching his campaign for president. The North Carolina Democrat has not cast a vote in Washington for more than a week as he crisscrosses the country raising money for his White House bid and puts in appearances in early nominating states.

Since the start of June, Edwards has been present to vote 14 times. He has missed 16 votes, including two on Friday -- one to allow lower-cost drugs to be imported from Canada -- while he was campaigning in Iowa and Illinois.

The votes that Edwards has missed include a bid to block a study of oil and gas reserves off coastal states, including North Carolina, and a provision to speed up the introduction of generic drugs into the marketplace. Edwards has championed the latter measure on the campaign trail, blaming President Bush for its failure to become law.

Aides point out that Edwards' attendance record this year has been better than that of three of his Senate colleagues who are also seeking the presidency.

They also note that none of the votes he missed has been close enough that his presence would have swayed the outcome.

Still, Edwards' absences are certain to add to the ammunition that Republicans are gathering against Edwards if he seeks re-election to his Senate seat, which is also on the ballot in 2004. "It's bad for the people he represents," said Marc Rotterman, a Republican political consultant who splits his time between Raleigh and Washington. "They hired him to do a job that he's not fulfilling, and now he wants a promotion."

A key aide said Edwards is doing an admirable job representing the state while running for the presidency. "When you run for president, you've got to make those hard scheduling decisions about how you balance your time," said Ed Turlington, a Raleigh lawyer who is serving as general chairman of Edwards' presidential campaign. "I think John is doing a good job with balancing his responsibilities to North Carolina with running for the highest office in the nation."

Since January, when Edwards announced his White House bid and Congress reconvened, he has missed about one of every five Senate votes. He sometimes has gone to great lengths to get to Washington from the campaign trail when votes are expected to be close.

On April 10, for example, he flew to Charleston, S.C., where he had a breakfast meeting scheduled the next morning in that early primary state. When a vote was called that afternoon on the Senate budget resolution, Edwards canceled several campaign events and flew to Washington to cast his vote.

The GOP-backed budget wound up passing, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote. Edwards flew back to South Carolina later and resumed his campaign schedule with a reception in Myrtle Beach.

Edwards delayed the start of a campaign swing through New Hampshire on May 23 so he could stay in Washington for a close vote on a tax bill. Much of Edwards' travel in recent weeks has been related to fund raising.

Edwards raised more than any of his eight Democratic rivals $7.4 million during the first quarter of the year and is under great pressure to stay among the leaders in the money chase.

[Rebelbase]

Can anyone find any data on the number of days Edwards has been absent from DC and NC?

[Rebelbase]

I did a search and did not find that this had already been posted.

How about a NC ping, please?

[PhiKapMom]

Every week RNC sends out the Vote Watch -- this is the one for last week that I posted:

DemocRATs Missed Votes; Playing Hooky from Work!

[Lawgvr1955]

North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is on pace to miss more than half the Senate votes in a month for the first time since launching his campaign for president.

Too bad more aren't running for president. They do less damage on the campaign trail. They aren't taking my money and liberties away. Yeah!

I forgot who it was who said, "No man's property is safe while the Legislature is in session".

[Kuksool]

The presidential campaign of John Edwards is turning into a big joke. To think that 2 years ago, many political pundits called Edwards the "golden boy" who could beat Bush in 2004. At the rate things are trending now, Edwards may have to go back to ambulance chasing in 2005.

[Malesherbes]

This is good news. I wish he'd miss 100 % of the votes.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

"They also note that none of the votes he missed has been close enough that his presence would have swayed the outcome."

Is that the measure by which all Congressmen decide to vote or not? If their vote doesn't count, then they won't vote? Isn't this the same sort of logic attributed to the average American voter? Laziness prevails, I suppose. Or greed.

[xrp]

Jeez...how many Senators are running for President in 2004? 3? 4? Isn't Chris Dodd of Connecticut thinking of joining the fray?

Republicans should call votes on so much stuff when the Senators-D are out of DC and not able...or WILLING, to return. Or...the Republicans in the Senate could keep the Ds off the campaign trail by continually calling for major votes on things like Estrada and other things.

[faithincowboys]

This article sounds like damage control. This guy must be working for the Edwards campaign. They kept stressing that any time votes were close, he took great lengths to vote. I'm so sick of local media going in the tank for liberal candidates. hacks know that is the only way to go national.

[Howlin]

Thanks for posting this. I heard about this article and couldn't find it.

Is this suppose to make me feel better about him not represnting North Carolina?

I don't recall him saying "I'll be there for North Carolina unless I have a campaign obligation" when he was running for the Senate.

[Princeliberty]

He will miss 100% of the votes in 2005 and
the only way he will be in the White House
is if he takes the public tour.

[Bullish]

Edwards is a small potato. I wouldn't get too worried about Johnny (lawyer) Edwards.

In fact, I wish he would get the nod, Bush would win in a landslide.

[jagrmeister]

We're sick of the leftist bias in the media- I wish we would do something. As much as we despise Democrats, the minute they think they are trailing in the media, they DO something about it- such as create that $10M fund for talk radio. Now I'm guessing that will fail. In our case, we have a legitimate problem- we should create some similar fund and create a national newspaper (as The Weekly Standard suggests). Lord knows we have the deep pockets on our side to make something like this happen.

[Constitution Day]

Sure, will do.

[Constitution Day]

NC ping!
Please FRmail me if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[azhenfud]

Hmmm, if I were to miss three of five workdays for a month....


I could certainly trim my tax burden....

[Carolinamom]

Is there any way to dock his pay for not doing the job to which he was elected (not by me)?

[Constitution Day]

Indexing to Edwards Watch...

[Constitution Day]

I wish it were so, but I doubt it.

[azhenfud]

Blinkey works for the "regular" people - those who regularly lay out of work.

At least he's consistant in equal work for equal pay - he gets paid once a month so he works once a month....