Spoiling (Carefully) for a Fight (NYT Mag - Edwards Debate Prep)

[chimpymustgo]

Spoiling (Carefully) for a Fight
By MATT BAI

Published: November 23, 2003

In a green-and-beige hotel suite overlooking the Detroit River, John Edwards sits cross-legged, his back to the bleak Canadian vista, absently bouncing his stockinged foot. The day started so inspiringly, with Edwards, the North Carolina senator and presidential candidate, bounding up to the pulpits of two African-American churches and energizing crowds who'd never heard of him. (''The Lord is in this place!'' he shouted, to elated calls of ''Yes, sir!'') But now, a few hours later, here he is in Room 661 of the Renaissance Center Marriott, surrounded by a circle of half a dozen senior aides who are prepping him for tonight's Democratic debate. Nodding impatiently as he shifts in his chair, Edwards has the look of a man whose date has dragged him to a foreign film.

-snip-

In the five previous debates, Edwards's strategy has been to avoid the verbal darts the other candidates have been aiming at one another. Instead of garnering headlines with one-liners, Edwards has been hoping to reach the voters watching at home with talk of his ''Real Solutions for America'' plan, a booklet full of policy proposals. The strategy isn't working out so well. Current polls have him close to the back of the pack, jockeying for position with Al Sharpton.

-snip-

The advisers point out some other weak spots. Dick Gephardt has been linking Dean to Newt Gingrich because Dean once spoke in favor of raising the retirement age for entitlements. Perhaps Edwards should join in. ''That's absurd,'' Edwards says dismissively. ''No one believes he's like Gingrich. I think we just need to say that he wanted to limit the cost of Medicare, which is exactly what the Republicans wanted to do.''

Then there is Wesley Clark's war position; he has been criticized for a lack of clarity. Edwards shakes his head. ''I don't think I want to be in that,'' he says. ''I just don't really want to go there.''

Edwards seems chiefly concerned with how best to talk about his plan for the economy. On one hand, he has a series of proposals to create jobs. But he also likes to rail against the growing tax burden on working families.

I'm also wondering whether a guy like John Edwards can do what lesser-known candidates have traditionally done, which is to use the debates to establish his relevance to the race. Long touted as a Southern successor to Bill Clinton, Edwards has a trial lawyer's courtly eloquence, the most coherent set of policy proposals in the field and -- hands down -- the best hair in politics. But unlike the voluble Sharpton or the squarish Joe Lieberman, Edwards has struggled to define himself with voters.


snip-

I asked Sharpton to rate the debating skills of his rivals. Gephardt and Kucinich show the most passion, Sharpton said, while Lieberman is the most sure of his convictions. ''He don't care if they heckle or boo, that's who he is. I respect it.'' Dean, he said, ''can come off as arrogant or even mean-spirited.'' Sharpton likened Kerry to a prizefighter who scores well in every round but never lands the knockout punch.

I asked him about Edwards. ''He suffers from his handlers maybe building something up that he couldn't live up to,'' Sharpton said, sympathetically. ''I don't blame him for that. I think sometimes you can be overpromoted, and it can hurt you in the end.''

-snip-

He gets his chance a few days later, when Dean tells The Des Moines Register that he wants to be ''the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.'' The comment draws angry rebukes from Sharpton and other candidates, who say it's racially insensitive. Edwards is furious for a different reason: he thinks Dean, the New Englander, doesn't understand that most Southerners don't drive trucks with Confederate flags. For Edwards, Dean epitomizes the kind of Northern elitist who insists on seeing the South as it used to be, not as it is.

-snip-



http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/magazine/23EDWARDS.html?pagewanted=4

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This is a very insightful 4 page magazine article. Very behind the scenes.

[Catch22Dem]

1. Thanks, I'm going to have to read the rest of that!

Good stuff. John Edwards is a good man. I support Clark, but I'd be HONORED to have Edwards as my president. Something tells me I WILL someday too!

[chimpymustgo]

2. I am liking the idea of a Clark/Edwards ticket!

nt

[Catch22Dem]

3. Me too. I'd love it!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. Good article, but it epitomizes what's wrong with campaign journalism.

After the debate, Edwards and most of the other candidates are hustled into what's known as ''Spin Alley.'' It's one of the stranger scenes in American politics: aides hold up placards that say ''Edwards'' or ''Dean,'' and reporters and cameramen swarm like wasps around whichever candidate interests them most. The whole thing resembles a kind of adolescent playground nightmare, with all the cool kids getting chosen while the less coordinated players wait awkwardly under their placards. At one debate this fall, aides to Representative Dennis Kucinich literally grabbed wandering reporters and implored them to come interview their boss.

Several reporters surround Edwards. There are more questions about why he isn't winning the race, but none on his policies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/23/magazine/23EDWARDS.html?pagewanted=2

Matt Bai doesn't seem to realize how ironic this sounds in a four-page article on Edwards that imparts absolutely no information about his policies or how they differ from the other candidates', or Bush's policies.

[burr]

5. Sharpton is right...

I asked him about Edwards. ''He suffers from his handlers maybe building something up that he couldn't live up to,'' Sharpton said, sympathetically. ''I don't blame him for that. I think sometimes you can be overpromoted, and it can hurt you in the end.''
<snip>


Edwards primary problem is not his background or image, and yet this is the top reason for bringing handlers in to work on a campaign. Not to shape the message, in 1992 Bill Clinton produced the message and Carville helped Clinton package the message and improve his image for voters. But Edwards has an excellent image with or without handlers. Unfortunately Edwards has put his handlers in charge of shaping the message, "hence real solutions for real people."

People see right through this shit. It was Clinton's message which saved him, along with the excellent handling of the Flowers affair and the draft notice story. Had Clinton's handlers been allowed to produce a half-assed message like Edwards is selling, he would have never won!