http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/3516843p-3120362c.htmlBackers of John Edwards and Howard Dean still have reason to show their strength at party gatherings. North Carolina Democrats will stage their first presidential caucus Saturday -- with the nomination already settled but with supporters of former contenders John Edwards and Howard Dean hoping to make a statement
But Ed Turlington, a Raleigh lawyer and Edwards' general campaign chairman, said he is advising the senator's supporters to vote for Edwards.
"We are all for John Kerry. We are all going to work for John Kerry," Turlington said. "For me as an individual, I am going to vote for John Edwards for two reasons. This is a historic opportunity for North Carolina Democrats to vote for one of their own. I am going to vote for Edwards because it shows our home-state pride to the rest of the country."
Blaise Strenn of Raleigh, the former Dean state coordinator, is urging fellow Deaniacs to vote for the former Vermont governor.
"Kerry has the nomination," Strenn wrote in e-mail to Dean backers. "But Howard Dean and others are still on the ballot and you can vote for your vision of the Democratic Party. By voting for Dean, you help keep his ideas alive by sending progressive delegates to the national convention -- delegates who will fight for a fiscally conservative