The Edwards Effect
By Paul Krugman--The New York Times
February 1, 2008
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So John Edwards has dropped out of the race for the presidency. By normal political standards, his campaign fell short.

But Mr. Edwards, far more than is usual in modern politics, ran a campaign based on ideas. And even as his personal quest for the White House faltered, his ideas triumphed: both candidates left standing are, to a large extent, running on the platform Mr. Edwards built.

To understand the extent of the Edwards effect, you have to think about what might have been.

At the beginning of 2007, it seemed likely that the Democratic nominee would run a cautious campaign, without strong, distinctive policy ideas. That, after all, is what John Kerry did in 2004.

If 2008 is different, it will be largely thanks to Mr. Edwards. He made a habit of introducing bold policy proposals — and they were met with such enthusiasm among Democrats that his rivals were more or less forced to follow suit.

It's hard, in particular, to overstate the importance of the Edwards health care plan, introduced in February.

Before the Edwards plan was unveiled, advocates of universal health care had difficulty getting traction, in part because they were divided over how to get there. Some advocated a single-payer system — a k a Medicare for all — but this was dismissed as politically infeasible. Some advocated reform based on private insurers, but single-payer advocates, aware of the vast inefficiency of the private insurance system, recoiled at the prospect.

With no consensus about how to pursue health reform, and vivid memories of the failure of 1993-1994, Democratic politicians avoided the subject, treating universal care as a vague dream for the distant future.

But the Edwards plan squared the circle, giving people the choice of staying with private insurers, while also giving everyone the option of buying into government-offered, Medicare-type plans — a form of public-private competition that Mr. Edwards made clear might lead to a single-payer system over time. And he also broke the taboo against calling for tax increases to pay for reform.
(...)
Unfortunately for Mr. Edwards, the willingness of his rivals to emulate his policy proposals made it hard for him to differentiate himself as a candidate; meanwhile, those rivals had far larger financial resources and received vastly more media attention. Even The Times’s own public editor chided the paper for giving Mr. Edwards so little coverage.

And so Mr. Edwards won the arguments but not the political war.
(...)
One thing is clear, however: whichever candidate does get the nomination, his or her chance of victory will rest largely on the ideas Mr. Edwards brought to the campaign.

Personal appeal won’t do the job: history shows that Republicans are very good at demonizing their opponents as individuals. Mrs. Clinton has already received the full treatment, while Mr. Obama hasn’t — yet. But if he gets the nod, watch how quickly conservative pundits who have praised him discover that he has deep character flaws.

If Democrats manage to get the focus on their substantive differences with the Republicans, however, polls on the issues suggest that they’ll have a big advantage. And they’ll have Mr. Edwards to thank.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/opinion/...

John Edwards


Mark Warner

Edwards to break Missouri presidential candidate drought

Here comes John Edwards.

The former North Carolina senator will become the first major '08 White House candidate to visit Missouri this year when he stops by St. Louis Saturday.

Edwards "can win states like Missouri and Oklahoma, that have gone red in recent presidential elections," said former Rep. David Bonior, Edwards' national campaign manager.

The stop will be part of a tour he's dubbing "America Rising, Coast to Coast" that will take Edwards to blue and red states.

The St. Louis stop wil be at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. The event location hasn't been announced.

BTW, Barack Obama said Sunday he plans to get to Missouri prior to the Feb. 5 primary.

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/9443

Edwards Calls for Ban on Coal Plants
By Page Ivey--Associated Press
Monday, January 14, 2008
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PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Monday said a proposed coal-fired power plant shouldn't be built in northeastern South Carolina, continuing his call for a ban on those facilities.

"My view is that needs to stop," Edwards said of the $1 billion, 600-megawatt plant set to be built along the Pee Dee River in this early voting state. Santee Cooper officials are awaiting a final permit from state environmental regulators.

The utility's officials say they need the plant to meet energy demands, and can't wait for newer or cleaner energy to be developed, but have said the plant will be environmentally responsible. They hope to have it running about 2012.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told about 150 people at a campus of Coastal Carolina University that coal-fired plants are "taking a bad situation and making it worse."

He also said he was opposed to new nuclear power plants and that the U.S. has no credibility in global warming discussions. "We are the worst polluter on the planet," Edwards said.

He took a swipe at rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying the New York senator takes more money from power industry interests than any other presidential candidate.

"We have to have a president willing to stand up to the oil and gas industry," Edwards said.
(...)

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/01/14/...

Press release on top; policy paper at bottom -- Go Edwards!

Edwards Discusses Bold Plan to Protect the Environment & Fight Global Warming
Edwards will take on the big oil companies, polluters and power companies to address the great environmental challenge of our lifetime
John Edwards for President
Monday, January 14, 2008
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Pawleys Island, South Carolina – On the fourth day of the his "Bringing It Home" bus tour across South Carolina, John Edwards today discussed his bold plan to protect South Carolina's coast, fight global warming and build a new energy economy that will create more than one million new jobs. At a town hall in Pawleys Island, Edwards outlined his plan to take on the big oil companies, power companies and polluters and achieve energy independence.

Throughout the tour, Edwards has been discussing his plans to bring about bold change and fight for the middle class. Born to a working class family in South Carolina and raised in small, rural mill towns, Edwards has spent his life taking on powerful interests on behalf of hard-working families like the ones he grew up with.

"We know that global warming is a crisis," said Edwards. "We know the need for action is urgent. And we know that the steps we need to take are sitting right in front of us. But Washington is not taking them. I see the oil and gas companies blocking progress by spending millions of dollars and deploying hundreds of lobbyists to Washington to make sure that America stays addicted to foreign oil and fossil fuels.

"If we have the courage to boldly change course we can transform it into a real opportunity for America," Edwards continued. "It won't be easy, but it is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war. If we harness American ingenuity, we can emerge from the crisis of global warming with a new energy economy that stimulates innovation, brings the family farm back to life, and creates more than one million jobs in America's farms and industries."

Global warming is a crisis, and without action we could be living in a fundamentally different planet. In South Carolina, higher sea levels could wipe out miles of property. Sea water would drown marshes, leaving the state more vulnerable to hurricane-related flooding. Higher property insurance rates are likely and the threat to South Carolina's fishing and tourism industries is real.

Edwards will protect the environment and fight global warming by:

*Halting Global Warming: Edwards will cap the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2010 and reduce it by at least 80 percent by 2050. He will create a New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart clean and renewable energy technologies and create one million jobs. Edwards will also lead the world to a new global climate change treaty.
*Achieving Energy Independence: Edwards will rebuild our economy on homegrown sources of clean energy and energy efficiency. He will invest in safe, renewable energy to generate 25 percent of the nation's electricity by 2025, reject nuclear and unsafe coal power, transform the American auto industry and meet the demand for power with efficiency.
*Reversing the Bush Administration's War on Clean Air and Water: Edwards will work to reverse every harmful environmental executive order and regulation issued by the Bush Administration, strengthen the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, restore the "polluter pays" principle to the Superfund program, and protect and conserve open space, forests and wildlife.

Edwards' four-day tour comes on the heels of his homecoming tour, which saw crowds exceeding 1,000 South Carolinians in Clemson and 500 in Columbia. Edwards is the only candidate in the race who was born in South Carolina and he is the only Democratic candidate to ever win in a "red" state. Edwards leads the Democratic field in both campaign stops and money raised in the Palmetto State, and his campaign boasts an impressive statewide grassroots organization strengthened by deep support from Edwards' 2004 campaign.

http://www.johnedwards.com/sc/headlines/20... /
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Protecting the Environment and Achieving Energy Independence

"Our generation must be the one that says, 'we must halt global warming.' It is time to ask the American people to be patriotic about something other than war" - John Edwards

Global warming is a crisis, and without action we could be living in a fundamentally different planet. Our dependence on foreign oil also leaves us reliant on unstable and hostile areas of the world. In South Carolina, higher sea levels could wipe out miles of property. Sea water would drown marshes, leaving the state more vulnerable to hurricane-related flooding. Higher property insurance rates are likely and the threat to South Carolina's fishing and tourism industries is real.

John Edwards will take on big oil companies, polluters and power companies to address the great environmental challenge of our lifetime. We have a responsibility to act as stewards of the planet for our children and grandchildren. By harnessing American ingenuity, we can emerge from the crisis of global warming with a new energy economy that stimulates innovation, brings the family farm back to life, and creates more than 1 million jobs in America's farms and industries.

Halting Global Warming
To halt global warming, Edwards will cap the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in 2010 and reduce it by 20 percent by 2020 and at least 80 percent by 2050. After a short transition period, all the permits will be sold. A portion of the revenue will be dedicated to the $13 billion-a-year New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart clean and renewable energy technologies and create 1 million jobs. Edwards will also lead the world to a new global climate change treaty by sharing clean energy technology with cooperating nations and, if necessary, requiring minimum climate-change commitments in our trade deals.

Achieving Energy Independence
Edwards will rebuild our economy on homegrown sources of clean energy and energy efficiency. Specifically, he will:

*Invest in Renewable Electricity: Edwards will invest in safe, renewable energy like wind, solar power, and biomass to generate 25 percent of the nation's electricity by 2025.
*Reject Nuclear and Unsafe Coal Power: Edwards opposes the construction of new nuclear power plants, which are time consuming, extremely expensive, and generate waste that cannot yet be stored safely. He opposes new coal-fired power plants that cannot capture their carbon emissions and subsidies for the liquid coal industry that could make global warming worse.
*Transform the American Auto Industry: Edwards will raise fuel economy standards to 40 mpg by 2016, expand the use of biofuels like ethanol and invest $1 billion a year in helping American automakers lead the world in hybrid and electric cars and lightweight and fuel-efficient cars.
*Meet the Demand for Power with Efficiency: Edwards will set a national goal of using existing power to meet all new needs for the next decade, let power companies profit from efficiency as well as production and invest in more efficient buildings and appliances.

Reversing the Bush Administration's War on Clean Air and Water
In his first year as president, Edwards will work to reverse every harmful environmental executive order and regulation issued by the Bush Administration, strengthen the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, restore the "polluter pays" principle to the Superfund program, and protect and conserve open space, forests and wildlife.

http://www.johnedwards.com/sc/headlines/20...

Edwards: The Real "Fairy Tale" is Thinking Change Begins With Washington Politicians
John Edwards for President
Sunday, January 13, 2008
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Sumter, South Carolina – In remarks today at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, John Edwards said that real change begins with leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and with the American people, not with politicians in Washington. Edwards attended the service with Rep. Leon Howard, head of the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, and the Rev. James Blassingame. Excerpts of Edwards’ remarks follow:

“I’d love to speak with you this morning, not just as a candidate for president, but also as a fellow southerner who has traveled from Seneca to Sumter and a lot of places in between. You know, much has changed since James and I left Seneca. When we were in Seneca, we weren’t allowed to go to school together. But as glory be to God, today we can worship together.

“And this may come as a surprise to some of you, coming from another presidential candidate, me, but as someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel an enormous amount of pride when I see the success that Senator Barack Obama is having in this campaign.

“And some days, now I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say some days I wish he was having a little less success, but it gives me great pride to see the reception he has received. We have come a long way in the 54 years that I’ve been on this earth, but not far enough. We still have work to do. And the hopes that both Senator Obama and I have for this nation and this country that we love so much, they’re real hopes.

“I must say I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change came not through the Reverend Martin Luther King, but through a Washington politician. I fundamentally disagree with that. Those who believe that real change starts with Washington politicians have been in Washington too long and are living in a fairy tale.

“Real change has never started in Washington. Real change came from those who fought in the trenches -- those who shed their blood, sweat and tears, and those who suffered broken bones. Real change started in Selma. Real change started with Rosa Parks. Real change started with the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King and the brave men who sat down at a luncheon counter at Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina. Real change started in churches just like this across America and across the South. And real change started not far from here in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

“We are not being true to ourselves or the heroes of Greensboro, Selma, Birmingham and Orangeburg if we do not continue this journey to bring about real change. And you can’t take a single step on this journey unless you stand on the truth. And let me say here, that what I say to you today, I say in front of all audiences, no matter black, white -- including audiences where there is not a single African American.

"The dream is strong and the dream still lives, but we still live in two different Americas. One America for those who are doing extraordinarily well and one for everybody else. We’ve still got two public school systems in America. One for wealthy, affluent suburban areas and one for everybody else. We’ve got two health care systems in America. One for those who can afford the best health care money can buy and one for everybody else. We’ve got two economies in this country. One for those who make millions and millions of dollars every year and one for those who are struggling just to get by and pay the bills.

“You know what I’m talking about. That’s what this election is about and we can do better than this. America can do better than this. We’re better than this as a people and we’re better than this as a nation. We want to live in a country where every single child has the same high quality public school education. We want to live in an America where everybody has health care through a universal health care system for every man, woman and child, not where the wealthy get good health care and everybody else struggles. We want to live in an America where 37 million people don’t wake up every day living in poverty, literally worried about feeding and clothing their children.

“What this election is about—it’s not about me and it’s not about any of the other candidates—what the election is about is building one America.”

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-rele...

Edwards Weighs in on Clinton MLK Comments
CBS News "On the Road" blog
January 13, 2008, 12:37 PM
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From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:

SUMTER, S.C. -- John Edwards jumped into the fray and addressed controversial remarks made by Hillary Clinton about Dr. Martin Luther King.

"I must say I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change that came not through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, but through a Washington politician," Edwards told the congregation at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Sumter. "I fundamentally disagree with that. Those who believe that real change starts with Washington politicians have been in Washington too long and are living in a fairy tale."

The remarks never addressed Clinton by name, but it was clear that the New York Senator was in the crosshairs.

Edwards continued to address in historical terms the theme of change to the audience of African-American church goers.

"Real change has never started in Washington," he said. "Real change came from those who fought in the trenches, those who shed their blood, sweat and tears and those who suffered broken bones. Real change started in Selma. Real change started with Rosa Parks. Real change started with the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King and the brave men who sat down at a luncheon counter at Woolworths in Greensboro, NC."

And in a somewhat unlikely turn, Edwards went on to praise his other rival Democratic candidate.

"This may come as a surprise for some you coming from another presidential candidate," he said, " but as some of you grew up in the segregated South, I feel an enormous amount of pride when I see the success that Senator Barack Obama is having in this campaign. And I'd be best to acknowledge that some days I wish he was having a little less success."

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/01/13/po...

Edwards Criticizes Clinton Comments
By Evan Berland--Associated Press
Sunday, January 13, 2008
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SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — Democrat John Edwards on Sunday waded into a dispute between his rivals, criticizing comments by Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband that some have considered disparaging to Barack Obama and black people generally.

"I must say I was troubled recently to see a suggestion that real change that came not through the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King but through a Washington politician. I fundamentally disagree with that," Edwards told more than 200 people gathered at a predominantly black Baptist church.

Sen. Hillary Clinton recently was quoted as saying King's dream of racial equality was realized only when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, while Bill Clinton said Obama was telling a "fairly tale" about his opposition to the Iraq war.

Edwards did not name either of the Clintons in his speech, but turned the argument back on them.

"Those who believe that real change starts with Washington politicians have been in Washington too long and are living a fairy tale," he said.

Speaking in his native South Carolina, where he hopes to win the Democratic presidential primary on Jan. 26, Edwards said he was pleased with the civil rights progress that's been made in the South and lauded Obama, an Illinois senator.

"As someone who grew up in the segregated South, I feel an enormous amount of pride when I see the success that Senator Barack Obama is having in this campaign," said Edwards. He the added, with a laugh: "Some days I wish he was having a little less success."
(...)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hoAvkYT...

U.S. corporate elite fear candidate Edwards
By Kevin Drawbaugh--Reuters
Friday, January 11, 2008
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WASHINGTON, Jan 11 - Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same -- Democrat John Edwards.

The former North Carolina senator's chosen profession alone raises the hackles of business people. Before entering politics, he made a fortune as a trial lawyer.

In litigious America, trial lawyers bring lawsuits against companies on behalf of aggrieved individuals and sometimes win multimillion-dollar settlements. Edwards won several.

But beyond his profession, Edwards' tone and language on the campaign trail have increased business antipathy toward him. His stump speeches are peppered with attacks on "corporate greed" and warnings of "the destruction of the middle class."

He accuses lobbyists of "corrupting the government" and says Americans lack universal health care because of "drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists."

Despite not winning the two state nominating contests completed so far, with 48 to go, Edwards insists he is in the race to stay. An Edwards campaign spokesman said on Thursday that inside-the-Beltway operatives who fight to defend the powerful and the privileged should be afraid.

"The lobbyists and special interests who abuse the system in Washington have good reason to fear John Edwards.

"Once he is president, the interests of middle class families will never again take a back seat to corporate greed in Washington," said campaign spokesman Eric Schultz.

Open attacks on the business elite are seldom heard from mainstream White House candidates in America, despite skyrocketing CEO pay, rising income inequality, and a torrent of scandals in corporate boardrooms and on Wall Street. But this year Edwards is not alone. Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, sometimes also rails against corporate power and influence, tapping a populist current that lies just below the surface of U.S. politics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7...

Actors Robbins, Sarandon hit the road for John Edwards
January 7, 2008, filed by Jeff Mason
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DOVER, N.H. — Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins, famous for his part in hit film The Shawshank Redemption, is playing a new role: opening act for Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.

The actor-director and his partner Susan Sarandon campaigned for the former North Carolina senator one day before New Hampshire voters go to the polls in a crucial vote that could shape the rest of the primary contests.

And though he may not be Oprah — who famously hit the trail for rival Democratic hopeful Barack Obama — Robbins had crowds cheering at a local Elks club when he complained Edwards was not getting enough attention for his second-place finish in Iowa behind Obama and just ahead of former first lady Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“Even today after John Edwards comes in second in Iowa, we’re still being told it’s a two-person race,” Robbins told the crowd. “We’re the voters, we decide who the front-runner is.”

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/01/0...

A John Edwards Surge?
By Ian Welsh--Huffington Post
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
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So noted Glenn Greenwald yesterday noting a Rasmussen daily tracking poll showing Edwards up about 6% nationally while Clinton drops and Obama stays about evenly nationally.

I confess that my own take was that if Edwards didn't win Iowa his chances were very slim. These numbers seem to indicate otherwise. Admittedly, it's quite clear that NH will probably go heavily Obama, and the historical pattern has been for that to translate into a further bump in the early states.

However, if I were Edwards and I was tracking similiar numbers to these, I simply would not drop out based on the early states, especially if the trend continues. And, while Clinton's numbers are clearly dropping (and, as Glenn notes, they are transfering to Edwards, not Obama) at this point, if I were her, I'd be worried, but not yet panicking.

It ain't over yet. Obama's got the momentum, but he needs to start moving those national numbers or he's going to hit a brick wall.

I find this very interesting because of the lack of coverage that Edwards has received in the media. He shouldn't be getting this surge, it just shouldn't be happening. That means that something about him and his message is getting through.

Perhaps it has something to do with the tired phrase "change", which this election is supposedly about.

Earlier today I read an article by Ari Berman at The Nation. In it Ari goes over the Clinton and Obama foreign policy teams in detail - 4 long pages. Edwards foreign policy gets one slightly dismissive paragraph:

The top Democrat who puts the least emphasis on foreign affairs and has the fewest number of advisers, John Edwards, has paradoxically said some of the most interesting things during the campaign. Edwards has called the "war on terror" a "bumper sticker, not a plan," and has opposed enlarging the Army, citing the "little rationale given for exactly why we need this many troops." Days before the Iowa caucuses, he more sharply distinguished his position on Iraq from those of Clinton and Obama by calling for a near-total pullout of US forces within ten months. However, in foreign policy circles Edwards's knowledge of world affairs is considered thin, and on the stump he's far more passionate about domestic issues like poverty and trade. His main foreign policy adviser, Mike Signer, was an aide to former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, and his longtime national security adviser in the Senate, Derek Chollet, is a Holbrooke protege and a fellow at the Center for New American Security, a centrist think tank working to align Democrats closer to the military. Both are relatively hawkish; Signer wrote an essay in 2006 calling for a doctrine of "exemplarism," which he labeled "a militarily strong and morally ambitious version of American exceptionalism."

Remarkable. Just remarkable - John Edwards gets one paragraph, even though Ari admits that the differences between his foreign policy and that of Clinton and Obama is much greater than that between Clinton's and Obama's. And the reason is probably that he doesn't have a huge board of "experts" to foist the Beltway's conventional wisdom on him.

Forget dueling foreing policy establishments, Edwards basic frame is far more progressive and forward looking than Obama's or Clinton's. He doesn't believe in a "war on terror" and he doesn't want to add 92,000 new troops.

As noted, Obama and Clinton get more time in the piece, and the guy who wants to stop the insanity isn't taken seriously. The US spends over 50% of the world's military budget and is losing two wars to rabble, yet Obama and Clinton think it should raise more troops? Does "good money after bad" mean nothing to these folks?
(...)
The US's foreign policy establishment is deeply sick from end to end. The Neocons are only the most gangenous extremity.

And John Edwards is the only one of the three proposing anything really different. The only one really proposing "change". Lord knows he's not perfect (the Agonist attacked his "all options" statement with regards to Iran) but saying the war on terror is counterproductive was the equivalent of saying "the emperor has no clothes".
(...)
Because it's time to end the War on "Terror" and it's time to stop pandering to the military industrial complex. And of the big 3 Democratic candidates, only Edwards has the eyes to see this and the guts to say it. Of the Big 3, on foreign policy, only Edwards is for "change".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-welsh/a-...

Edwards vows to 'take back democracy'
Candidate gets celebrity boost from Sarandon, Robbins, Denton
By Katherine Lanzer
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
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DOVER — Nearing the end of a long, frenzied day of campaign events, Sen. John Edwards on Monday night gave a crowd of supporters and undecided voters his best last-minute pitch.

"Tomorrow will be a big day — an important day in the state of New Hampshire," he said of today's primary elections. "We're going to take the first major step in taking this democracy back for the people of the United States of America."

The energy was high in the packed Elks Lodge. Edwards took big oil, big corporations and "money-entrenched" lobbyists to task, saying their actions harm the middle class.

"Anyone who doesn't believe that we have a fight on our hands is living in Never Never Land," he said. "We have a fight on our hands, an epic fight on our hands. ...; Nothing will change until we break their iron-fisted grip on the democracy."

Calling himself the "underdog," Edwards made reference to Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who've received large media attention. "I am not a celebrity candidate," he said. Even so, plenty of celebrities surrounded him on Monday night. James Denton of "Desperate Housewives" warmed up the crowd before Edwards arrived; actor Tim Robbins officiated; and actress Susan Sarandon stood by as Edwards spoke. Robbins and Sarandon had also appeared at an event at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton earlier in the day.

Will Lenharth of Barrington was at his fourth political event of the season. The day before the primary, he was still undecided — though he'd narrowed it down to two candidates.

"I'm leaning toward Edwards or Obama," he said before Edwards' speech.
(...)
Between Edwards and Obama, he said, "I feel like I'm not losing with either choice."

It was in this same Elks Lodge that Bill Clinton fought to save his candidacy in 1992. Faced with the exposure of marital problems and allegations that he'd dodged the Vietnam War draft, Clinton told an audience just days before the primary, "I'll never forget who gave me a second chance and I'll be there for you until the last dog dies."
(...)

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dl...

Edwards: not a two-person race
"First Read" MSNBC blog
Saturday, January 5, 2008
----
From NBC's Kevin Corke:

CONCORD, N.H. -- Edwards packed in an overflow crowd of 415 at a Shriner Hall here and said he's the underdog in the race again. He also encouraged Granite-staters to ignore the national media, who have been proclaiming this a two-person race (ie: Obama-Clinton).

Trends: (1) Edwards is hammering the idea that he's the little guy (the underdog) in the race and is hoping New Hampshire voters, who have a penchant for rejecting Iowa's judgment will vote for him and defy political convention (and the national media); (2) He's spending a lot of energy comparing his ideas to Obama's while being careful to not mention him by name too much; (3) He has also been talking more about domestic environmental and energy policy, international affairs and the struggling economy.

Edwards Quoteables: (1) "We cannot sustain this ad hoc strategy to prevent the spread of nuclear technology."

(2) "We're not the $100 million campaign."

Scene: Edwards (again introduced by his wife Elizabeth, who got tremendous applause) tried to draw distinctions between his policy proposals and his competitors. He took more questions than usual at this stop and touched on a wider range of issues.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200...

Three-Quarters Through The 36-Hour "Marathon For The Middle Class": 9 Towns, 540 Miles, Thousands Of Granite Staters
During final 36-hour campaign push leading into the New Hampshire primary, John Edwards highlights proposals to fight entrenched corporate interests on behalf of the middle class
John Edwards for President
Monday, January 7, 2008
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Manchester, NH – John Edwards' 36-hour "Marathon for the Middle Class" is now three quarters over, and the momentum keeps growing. After standing room only crowds in Manchester, Keene and Derry yesterday, John and Elizabeth Edwards hit the North Country late last night and into the early morning hours, then came back down south to Lakeport and Bedford.

"I may be an underdog in this campaign, running against two candidates with $200 million between them, but the real underdogs are the middle class and the voiceless in this country," said John Edwards. "I know that the fight to save the middle class will be an epic battle, and I will never give up. We're going to take the fight to save the middle class all the way to the Convention and the White House. We're going to look our children in the eye and tell them 'we left you a better life than we had.'"

This morning John Edwards held a town hall meeting in Laconia, while Elizabeth Edwards attended a house party in Nashua. In the afternoon, John and Elizabeth were joined by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon at a house meeting in Bedford before heading to events in Hampton and Exeter.

http://www.johnedwards.com/news/press-rele...