Edwards Will Not Run For Senate Re-Election

[DrFunkenstein]

RALEIGH, N.C. - John Edwards will not run for re-election to the Senate in 2004 so he can concentrate on seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, a state party official said Sunday.

Edwards was first elected to the Senate in 1998 but announced in January he would seek the presidential nomination.

Former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, who lost to Elizabeth Dole in the 2002 election, and former state House Speaker Dan Blue, a Democratic primary candidate last year, have expressed interest in Edwards' seat should he not seek re-election.

With the White House's backing, Burr has raised $1.8 million this year for the Senate race and transferred another $1.7 million from his House campaign account, according to federal election reports.

Republicans hold a slim majority in the Senate but could pad that lead based on the retirements of Democratic Sens. Ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Zell Miller of Georgia.

Edwards is set to formally announce his candidacy next week in Robbins, where he spent his high school years.

The senator has trailed in polls in early Democratic races in Iowa and South Carolina but received good news from a South Carolina survey released last week showing him neck-and-neck with three other candidates in the state where he was born.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=1&u=/ap/edwards_senate

[diamondsoul]

1. DAMN! That worries me.

It worries me whether he gets the nomination or not ut more so if he doesn't. We need him up there.

[tedoll78]

2. silly, silly man.

Well.. there probably goes one senate seat.. and with the closeness of recent years' elections, our chances of recapturing the senate.

[ButterflyBlood]

3. He probably wasn't going to win reelection anyway

which is why he's doing this I think

[ISUGRADIA]

4. He's doing this early which is good

It will help a candidate like Bowles to organize rather than if Edwards had waited for a late bow out. This will be a tough race but at least more competative than SC or GA.

[diamondsoul]

5. Can I ask why??

He seems pretty well liked, and I like what he's had to say on the campaign trail. Do his positions in the debates not match his history??

[ButterflyBlood]

7. He's just too liberal for the state it seems

it was pretty well agreed that even if he got the nomination Bush would still carry NC. While he does get a lot of crap here most ratings show him being to the left of Lieberman, who comes from Connecticut. Connecticut vs. NC, you do the math.

[renie408]

19. NC

is getting more liberal all the time. Let them lay off a few more thousand textile workers and just look how liberal we get. Big government looks a lot better when you are unemployed than it does when you are earning $17 an hour.

[renie408]

18. Where do you live?

Cause I live in North Carolina and I think that had he decided to give up the Presidential race, he would have been able to hold his Senate seat. He is doing this because nobody else can really run for Senate until he makes a decision one way or another. He is officially announcing his Presidential candidacy next week and so officially gave up his bid for Senate reelection this week. Also, Erskine Bowles ran a good tight race against Elizabeth Dole and looks pretty good for Edwards seat next year. I think that with the right campaign, he can win fairly easily.

[ButterflyBlood]

31. I live in Minnesota

but the polls I've seen here has shown that he has ratings similar to *. It's also known that the RNC was going to heavily target this seat even if he dropped out of the Presidential race. He might of been able to hold on but I think Bowles has at least a good a chance as he did.

[DJcairo]

6. Why----why

Someone please talk some sense into this man.

[AP]

14. Because now he can win presidency and bring in Bowles on coattails

[idlisambar]

8. Bad news

Please, somebody from North Carolina tell me that there is another viable Democratic candidate for the seat.

[BushGone04]

13. Not really

I'm from NC, and I don't know that we have a viable candidate. Reps. Price and Etheridge might have a shot, but they're both fairly liberal in a state that isn't. I don't think Bowles would have a prayer. I don't know a lot about Dan Blue, but I don't think he's a very inspiring figure.

For the hell of it, I'll throw out a few more names of prominent Dems in the state. I guess Governor Easley is the first that comes to mind. Not a chance. I seriously doubt he'll win re-election as governor, which might prompt him to try for the Senate, but there's just no way. Half the Democrats in the state don't like this guy, to say nothing of the Republicans. The second person I can think of is Jim Hunt, who served a total of 4 terms as governor. This is actually an intriguing possibility, as he's a very popular and respected statesman here (and plenty centrist enough to get elected). However, I doubt he'd particularly want to run- he's getting old, and is probably a bit tired of politics. One final name, although this is really just a fantasy: Dean Smith. The former Tar Heel coach is worshipped by many around the state, and is well known as a staunch liberal. But, he has no demonstrated interest in running.

So, it's not looking so good for this seat in '04. I'll keep everyone posted if anything new develops, or more potential candidates come to mind.

[renie408]

20. Yooo hoooo???

Have you ever heard of Erskine Bowles?? Remember him??

[renie408]

21. I still don't get

why you are blowing Bowles off. He was holding very close to Dole all through the campaign in polling numbers and in the actual election, she took 54% of the vote to his 45%. When you consider that they were going after a seat that had been held by an extremely powerful Republican who fully backed Dole in a state that typically votes Republican and we already had one Democratic senator, I don't think he did too badly.

I think that with the current climate, Bowles stands a good chance.

[BushGone04]

23. Just a feeling, I guess

I don't know, just something about Bowles makes me think he'll have a hard time winning. North Carolina, as I'm sure you know, is a fairly conservative state, meaning that any Democrat who hopes to win in NC needs to have a great deal of personality or charisma, as Edwards does. I just haven't seen that quality in Bowles, which I think would put him at a big disadvantage against most any Republican candidate. Of course, a lot depends on what happens in the world and the country between now and next November, as well as on who the Republican opponent is, but, I'm sorry to say, I don't have much confidence in Erskine at this point.

[renie408]

24. Like I said...

Let things keep going the way they are and I think that NC will be more up for grabs that anybody really thinks right now.

I think Bowles can do it given the right campaign. Did you watch the debates between he and Dole? I thought he did very well and has more charisma than he is given credit for. I swear, I know that I will get reamed for saying such shallow things, but they need to avoid still photos of him from certain angles. He has no chin. I think it gives a certain impression of him that you don't get when you can see him animated. He gives off the impression of being a smart, friendly guy who is truly concerned about what is going on with normal people.

[Rooktoven]

35. I agree-- gut hunch.

Bowles strikes me of having Harvey Gannt-like charisma (and strategy) for the general election.

[BushGone04]

40. I guess I'm outnumbered then...

I guess I can see what you guys are saying (and he definitely has name recognition), but I just have a hard time seeing Bowles winning in NC. What I'm really hoping we don't have is a divisive, expensive primary race that leaves the eventual candidate battered, especially with the Republicans seeming solidly united behind Burr (according to the News and Observer, local paper here in Raleigh for those of you not from NC, Burr's already raised $3.4 million). I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out...

[Rooktoven]

34. Elaine Marshall

The secretary of state is wonderful. She'd be the ideal candidate if she could find (read woud hire) someone with Trippi-like campaign ability.

[Rooktoven]

36. A dark horse...

Charles Meeker of Raeligh would be interesting.

[EX-CONservative]

9. This is the cursed seat

Every senator running for re-election in this seat since Sam Ervin was defeated in 1972 has lost re-election.

It might actually increase our chances of keeping this seat by a historical perspective.

I think the best candidate would be Bob Etheridge or the more progressive David Price.

Erskine Bowles is a weaker candidate and uninspiring. If Jim Hunt or the two good congressmen above had run against Liddy Dole, she'd still be in retirement...

[jos]

10. Can still hold the seat

Bowles will have an easier time this time around if for no other reason than he won't be running against a "superstar" candidate. Hunt would be the best, but he has shown no inclination to run for the Senate.

I'd rank North Carolina as the Democrats second most vulnerable seat, after Georgia.

[LWolf]

11. I'm disappointed.

I like Edwards, although he is not my pick for president. The reality is that only one of the 9 will be the nominee, and the new president. We need the rest of them, at least the senators and congress people, in their seats working to support the new president.

[AWD]

12. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

John, win the races you can win!

You are the Al Gore of the 80s....go run the primaries and learn from it. Come back in 12 years and win the popular election.

THAT is your destiny. Don't be foolhardy.

[AP]

15. If we don't have a president like John Edwards in 2004 (a guy who can talk

to dead people...FDR) then there won't be much of an America left in 2008 or 2012. The time is now for him.

Including Kucinich, nobody else has the fortitude or the ability to articulate a message and persuade the public that have to adjust the balance of power between corporations and the public that is currently tilted so far in the favor of the corporations.

When the steel industry raised prices during Kennedy's administration, Kennedy went on the TV and told the public what they were doing. The PUBLIC got enraged, so the corporations had to reduce prices. Kennedy had a direct connection to the public and told the truth to them in a way which was way more powerful than any combination of lies that could have been told by the media and in commercials purchased by industry lobby groups.

I don't see any other candidate who seems interested in telling these kind of truths (except Kucinich), and I don't see any other candidate (including Kucinich) whose powers of persuassion are as powerful as Kennedy's (and Clinton's).

[diamondsoul]

28. Ok before I say this, please don't bite my head off, 'k?

Obviously I disagreee with you about Kucinich's powers of persuasion, but that's beside the point.

Nothing but a personal instinct on my part, but I don't get the feeling Edwards is quite ready to run the country. What's really sad is I can't put my finger on why I feel that way, right at this moment. I mean I personally think his experience as alawyer gives him an edge a lot of inexperienced politicians don't have. Lawyering is all politics, know when to stand and fight, know when to compromise, know when to bluff, etc. etc.

It can't be his youth because I couldn't give less of a crap about that. (btw, I hope you don't mind being turned into a sounding board here) This really bugs me. Whatever it is seemed to settle in after watching the debate replay all three times last night on C-span.

Anyway, forgive me if I'm not making a lot of sense here. I really hate it when something just settles at the back of my mind and I can't figure out the reason for it.

[renie408]

32. I won't bite your head off for that

any more than you should bite my head off for the same feeling I have about Kucinich. That is part of this whole process, all of us having different feelings about the candidates.

I obviously think that Edwards would step up to the plate and do just fine. And when you think about it, what man is ready to run the United States of America before he actually gets in the Oval Office and truly gets the scope of what he has signed on to do??

[AP]

37. I think it's latent class anxiety which makes people say this

I think many people in America (of a certain demographic) feel like they need to be ruled by their social betters. I think people think their presidents need to be sons of presidents, or at least have a Yale degree. We also worship wealth in this country, and either it has to be immense wealth or inherited wealth.

I think when people say Edwards doesn't have the experience, what they're really thinking is, 10 years ago this guy was me -- a professional guy, running his own small business, coaching his kids sports teams and working 14 hour days the rest of the week. What? He thinks because he had a kid who died, he can suddenly reprioritize his life and run for the presidency?

Fortunately, I think there's another huge demographic of working class and minority people who look at Edwards and think (or will think) this guy represents all that I think is good about America and represents all my hopes and dreams -- that with a fair shake and some hard work, I can lead a life of dignity and relative prosperity, and I can provide for my kids.

So, all you DU'ers who might not get the class angle, you may come around sooner or later. However, there are millions of people who don't match the DU demographic who understand the kind of experience Edwards has and thinks not only is he ready to be president, but American is ready for him.

[diamondsoul]

41. No, it's not class either, I don't think.

Not for me at least. It's something in his personality that I can't quite define just yet. I got the same sense again tonight while watching the most recent debate. He said all the right things, and I honestly like the man a great deal, but something, somewhere is just not clicking when I contemplate him as President.

Let me qualify that by saying if he gets the nod, I'm all his as far as support, no question involved. I will absolutely throw my all into his campaign if that turns out to be the case. I just don't feel something right this moment that drives me to do that for him.

Typing out that last sentence, I wonder if it isn't a sense of security. I get that with Kucinich, not as much with Edwards. Don't mind me, it's another one of those instinctive reactions I haven't been able to overcome with Dean either.

[AWD]

30. Don't get me wrong, AP

I think John Edwards would make a fine President. He's one of the 4 candidates whom I would not only vote for, but campaign for.

But I don't think the American people would agree with me. They're not ready to embrace him....yet.

We here at DU are more in tune with politics than a large percentage of Americans...we know he'd make a great leader now. But it will take some time for the country to discoverthis.

Same with Al Gore in 1988 (this is the year he ran, right??). He would have made a great President that yar, but it wasn't until 12 years later that America discovered this and elected him.

Of course, I'd be tickled pink if I were wrong about this and he was elected in 2004 to the White House!

[renie408]

33. Too many variables...

I think we are ALL shooting in the dark for a good while to come. It won't be until our nominee is standing at that podium announcing his running mate before ANYBODY is going to be really sure who has what it takes and who doesn't. And even then we won't know until the morning after Election Night 2004 if that nominee has the right stuff to win a general election. I like Edwards, I would like him to win. But I can live with several of the other candidates and could support them with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

[AP]

38. I think you have a couple things backwards.

I think there are way more people who aren't like DU'ers at all in America. Did you read the post from the guy whose sister emailed him telling him Dean seems too angry? That's how most Americans will react to him.

As for Gore, interesting you bring him up. Have you read Wealth and Democracy? In the introduction, Kevin Phillips basically says that in an era of corporate kleptocracy and anti-middle class warfare by the hegemonic republican party, the Democratic Party is mad to run candidates who don't stand as symbols of the plight of the people to whom they should be appealing with a message of middle class opportunity. He said 2000 was an example of this.

[topdog08]

42. I for one think you are wrong

Please watch this and report back to me in the morning. Then tell me you don't think the American people would embrace him.

http://video.c-span.org:8080/ramgen/jdrive/c04070703_edwards.rm

Or read this: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=1PG8xUv1nktTTzJc7riDTX%3D%3D

"If you believe the mythology surrounding John Edwards, this should be the moment where he makes someone cry. About 100 people have come to Greeley Park on a cloudy Sunday to listen to the North Carolina senator, and an elderly, hunched-over man named Donald High, who has trouble walking, has risen to ask Edwards a question.

A similar visit to a New Hampshire belt factory back in February became legendary among the senator's aides when workers were left practically weeping. So, when High asks what Edwards will do about the fact that "people are getting laid off in this country by the thousands" while "there are still all these imports coming in destroying the quality of the goods in this country," I'm not the only one expecting a response of Clintonian empathy from the famously smooth ex-trial lawyer. Instead, Edwards launches into a detailed riff about tax incentives. He goes on at length about how we can replace the jobs that have already left with "economic revitalization zones" and a new "national venture capital fund," both of which would help attract entrepreneurs and businesses to hard-hit areas of the country. John Edwards--the guy with the pretty face and light resume who was expected to compensate for his lack of policy acumen with a compelling biography and an uncanny ability to connect with voters--has become a wonk."


He makes people cry when he gives speeches! How moving can you get? Is your argument about people needing to discover him the argument that he is not well enough known to be President? And you call yourself a Dean supporter! ;-)

[DrGonzoLives]

16. Not a great idea...

I seriously doubt, at this point, that he could win the nomination (but stranger things have happened). I don't think it smart to abandon his Senate race - if he loses the nomination, then we probably get another Republican in his place, instead of him running as an incumbent.

I really hopes he reconsiders this move.

[AP]

17. I think it's safe to say that this will not make a difference

in Senate control.

If a dem presidential candidate is nominated who will have no coattails, this won't make a difference. If one who has coattails is nominated, this won't make a difference the other way.

[renie408]

22. Yeah

Cause everything is always all sewn up five months ahead of the primary. Everybody knows that. I mean, look at all the candidates that were leading in the polls in September that won the nomination.

Oh.

[DrGonzoLives]

27. Yeah, and there are always people who come from way behind

Yep. Every time. The frontrunners never do well in elections, it's always a dark horse candidate.

Oh.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

25. Sorry to hear this but...

we should run either Erskine Bowles or James Hunt! Hunt was a very popular Governor to my understanding!!!

[mndemocrat_29]

29. Hunt would be the best candidate

But I don't believe he'll run.

[Kolesar]

26. How about Attorney General then?

Either Edwards of Jeff Fieger of Michigan (just kidding about Fieger). We need an AG with brains for a change.

[sandnsea]

39. So he can quit worrying about NC voters

That was Chris Matthews take and I think he's right. Now Edwards can support a moratorium on medicinal marijuana arrests if he wants, or go further left on the environment, or whatever he thinks has been holding him back because of NC voters. This could be a very good thing for Edwards because I, for one, haven't been too thrilled with some of his positions; even though I thought they might be related to his senate seat. And now that I know NC voters don't tend to reelect Senators or Democratic Senators or whatever, I think he made the right decision.

Go Johnny Go!

[mndemocrat_29]

43. If Edwards is on the ticket

Which he could be (I think his stock for VP is rising with the fall of Bob Graham), then support in NC will be high. I'm not saying we'll win it, but I am saying that it could be enough to vault Bowles into the Senate.