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Curbing Edwards
Posted at: Friday, March 5, 2004, 01:37 AM
Now that the John Edwards presidential campaign is history, so are his Secret Service escorts and the code name they assigned their charge: “Speedway” — perhaps a sly comment on the politician from the land of NASCAR who downed up to a dozen Diet Cokes daily.
— Staff writer Matthew C. Quinn and wire services.
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Fast food. Fast votes. Fast tour.
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 03:06 PM
After showing up at an Atlanta polling station early Tuesday, Sen. John Edwards’ motorcade stopped at a McDonald’s before heading to the airport. A six-seater Hawk business jet whisked him to Washington, where Edwards took a break as presidential contender and returned to his job as U.S. senator from North Carolina.
With sirens howling and lights flashing, Edwards’ motorcade delivered him to his office in the Dirksen building. An hour later he was on the Senate floor for a vote on gun legislation. He chatted briefly with rival John Kerry but avoided reporters’ questions about the voting going on in 10 states Tuesday.
Then he was back in a car on his way back to the airport. Lunch was at Wendy’s in Alexandria, where Edwards’ chief of staff Miles Lackey dashed in for a few hamburgers. No word on whether they were singles or doubles; with or without cheese.
— Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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An Atlanta vote for Edwards
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:19 AM
Sen. John Edwards got in one last lick at campaigning for the Democratic
presidential nomination this morning when he visited a polling place in
southwest Atlanta.
Reporters and photographers outnumbered voters when the North Carolina
senator made a quick visit to the Quality Living Service Center, a senior
citizens’ center, just off Cascade Rd.
But he won at least one vote just by showing up.
Christel (cq) Jackson, 41, an actuarial analyst , said she had been
undecided when she arrived at the polling place with her 5-year-old son at 8
a.m.
But she was voting for Edwards. “He came to my community and that made it
personal for me,” she said, adding that she had also received a phone call
from a “live person” in the Edwards campaign seeking her vote.
—Matthew C. Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writer
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Hold the mayo…
Posted at: Tuesday, February 24, 2004, 12:42 AM
The John Edwards campaign is encouraging people to hold the mayo, forgo the ham on rye and brown bag it to work this Tuesday.
In lieu of going out for lunch, supporters are asked to donate the dollars saved to the Edwards’ presidential campaign.
Requested donations for the ‘Official John Edwards Bring Your Lunch To Work Day” range from $5 — “leftovers from last night” — to $250, enough to feed the Edwards campaign field staff, according to the announcement.
Fund-raising categories also include $10 (soup and a sandwich) and $75 that would cover “a nice lunch for three.”
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Edwards courts Dean
Posted at: Monday, February 23, 2004, 12:02 PM
John Edwards is conducting a low-level political campaign for Howard Dean’s endorsement. Edwards, who said he has spoken with Dean since the Wisconsin primary, met privately during the weekend with about 30 of Dean’s Minnesota organizers, and publicly cited the former Vermont governor in St. Paul and at Cleveland State University in Ohio.
Calling Dean “my friend,” Edwards described him as “somebody I have enormous respect for, somebody who has changed the face of American politics, and been a powerful voice for change in this country.”
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Edwards does Hotlanta
Posted at: Thursday, February 19, 2004, 09:56 PM
A sign of spring’s approach: On the sunniest day in Atanta in a long time, it got so hot in the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Clark Atlanta University that John Edwards cut his speech short during a campaign rally there.
“I had some other things to say, but it’s hot in here,” he told the crowd gathered to hear him speak Thursday afternoon.
The North Carolina senator disappeared into the bowels of the vast building for a series of interviews, mostly with local television stations. WXIA’s Brenda Wood was one of the anchors who got a one-on-one with the presidential hopeful.
Whisked out from the frenzy via a back door and cramped elevator, a frazzled Edwards looked at his aides and said, “chaos.”
Away from the madding media and in the serenity of a white SUV, Edwards soothed his cough and downed an ice-cold Diet Coke, the official drink of the campaign. Apparently, he has converted his entire staff to the drink of his choice. (Good news for Coke staff at Atlanta HQ.)
On the drive over to the Buckhead home of a friend and fellow lawyer, Edwards began what was supposed to be a 20-minute interview with the Journal-Constitution.
But it was 3:30 in the afternoon and I-85 was, of course, its usual traffic nightmare. Edwards’ car stopped cold in the HOV lane, though no one seemed to notice the presidential candidate sitting in the passenger seat.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Edwards commented. He was curious about Atlanta’s sprawl problem. “How many people live in the metropolitan areea?” he asked.
Though belted down in his gray leather seat, the gregarious senator with the boyish looks and Southern charm couldn’t but help turn all the way around to look at aides in the back seats. He waved his hands about while talking, just as he does on stage.
The Edwards-mobile finally got off the ramp onto Lenox Road. As it drove past the glass exterior of the fashionable Bluepointe, Edwards said, “Hey, I think I’ve eaten there before.”
Just then the phone rang. It was Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, calling before she took to the trail herself in Santa Rosa, Calif.
“Hi, sweetie,” Edwards said, taking the cell phone from his chief of staff.
The car turned onto Brookhaven Drive and into the driveway of a stately, white-columned house. Edwards was ready for some R&R and his daily four-mile jog. Exercise, he said, is the best way to burn stress on the rigorous campaign trail, especially since he likes to down a good burger every now and then.
“I did have some salad and some soup today,” he said. ” For me, that’s as good as it gets. I’m really bad about eating double cheeseburgers. That’s what I love.”
— Moni Basu
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Backing Edwards
Posted at: Thursday, February 19, 2004, 07:53 PM
Sen. John Edwards had eight legislative backers on the grandstand Thursday at his Clark Atlanta University rally: Sen. Vincent Fort and House members Sharon Beasley-Teague, Al Williams, Mickey Stephens, Rob Teilhet, John Noles, Michele Henson and Stephanie Stuckey-Benefield.
Back during the Howard Dean surge, almost the entire Metro Atlanta Democratic legislative delegation, along with a number of other local officials, turned out to endorse the insurgent frontrunner at a campaign event at former Sen. Leroy Johnson’s home. Most of those who came to show their support for Edwards Thursday were from this group, but this was Fort’s first endorsement.
“He’s got that populist message that I like, and also, he talks about race in a way that shows he knows what he’s talking about,” Fort said.
The audience included some Dean volunteers, there to give Edwards a look, but they remained uncommitted after his speech.
“I came mainly to make sure that Gov. Dean’s message was still being heard,” said Sharon Haine, 43, of Atlanta. The core of that message, she said, is “that we can’t go on with the old standard” and must make major changes in the way Washington runs.
— Tom Baxter
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Welfare queen, meet coatless girl …
Posted at: Monday, February 16, 2004, 02:39 AM
Former President Ronald Reagan used to talk about a “welfare queen” in Chicago with a mink coat and a Cadillac, but he got in trouble when no one was able to locate her. John Edwards does not claim to know where the poor people in his speeches live, repeatedly asking voters in his speeches to imagine a 10-year-old girl “somewhere in America” who goes to bed “praying that tomorrow will not be as cold as today, because she doesn’t have the coat to keep her warm.”
Some critics, however, wonder whether the coatless girl is any more representative of America’s poor than Reagan’s Cadillac-driving welfare recipient. After all, clothing has become so cheap and plentiful that most clothing donated to charity is shipped abroad. The secondhand children’s coats that remain in America typically sell for about $5 in thrift shops.
“Edwards would do better to say there’s a girl somewhere in America who’s cold because her family can’t afford to fix the furnace,” said Robert E. Rector of the Heritage Foundation.
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Edwards the talk of Leno show
Posted at: Saturday, February 14, 2004, 02:35 AM
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards was the talk of NBC“s “Tonight Show” even before he walked on stage Friday night.
During his opening riff, host Jay Leno joked about Edwards” tradition of taking his wife to Wendy”s for a Valentine”s Day dinner.
“That should be his platform,” Leno said. “Any guy who can convince his wife to go to Wendy”s every year on Valentine”s Day should be elected. Imagine what he could convince the leaders of other countries to do.”
Later, during an interview with guest Diane Keaton, the actress professed her admiration for the Democratic senator from North Carolina, saying she watched him every day on CNN and was thrilled to meet him in person.
“Now that I”m nominated (for an Oscar), I feel like I”m in a race too. I think about him and I don”t know how he”s doing this,” she said. “It”s hard to be out there and be substantive and be involved and be excited.”
Edwards welcomed the compliment.
“I was very pleased to hear that,” he said during a brief exchange with reporters. “I think the world of her and my wife loves her.”
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Edwards gets his turn…
Posted at: Friday, February 6, 2004, 01:51 AM
And now, the Top 10 list of “Things Never Before Said by a Presidential Candidate” that John Edwards read on David Letterman’s “Late Show” Wednedsay:
10. “Vote for me or I’ll slash your tires.”
9. “Forget universal health care — I’m buying every American an XBox.”
8. “In a crisis, I ask myself, ‘What would Tony Danza do?’ “
7. “I’d give you my plan for economic recovery if I wasn’t rip-stinkin’ drunk.”
6. “If your last name begins with ‘M’ through ‘Z,’ sorry — your taxes are doubling.”
5. “We’re gonna cut the deficit by selling North Dakota to Canada.”
4. “I have tons of experience from being president of the Burt Reynolds Fan Club.”
3. “Lady, that is one ugly baby.”
2. “When I’m president, I’m putting Regis on Mount Rushmore.”
1. “Read my lips: No new wardrobe malfunctions.”
— Associated Press
