I wonder if Edwards "daddy learned math on TV" story was prepared in advance or whether he was winging it last minute. After Cheney talked about his upbringing, Edwards may have decided during the debate he needed to show he had "humble beginnings" too. Seemeed kind of weird to me. Of course when Edwards went off on how afganastan was leading producer of some kind of drug was off the wall too.
I guarantee you Edwards' daddy story was not winging it. It was the total opposite of winging it. Maybe it went over well with the focus group, but he never looked more ridiculous than he did telling that stupid-ass story about his 'daddeee'.
His dad was using his own brainpower to try to better himself. That's the opposite of Edwards's empty promises to use government largesse to improve the lot of the masses.