A good article about Edwards's talk in Florida on 2/26 from Sun-Sentinel:

[AP]

The fund-raiser, which attracted 700 elected officials, lobbyists, activists and other party faithful, drew $75,000 to $100,000 for the county party, said Chairman Mitch Ceasar.

This dinner set a fundraising record last year of $100k with Hillary as the key-note speaker, when everyone was giving money to win the presidential race. So if Edwards drew in 75k-100k, that's a pretty good number.

President Bush took Florida in the 2004 election, but the challengers fared best in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, handily defeating the incumbent.

"These three counties could carry the whole state if we could get all the vote out," said activist Lottie Albert, 88, of Sunrise. Albert credited Edwards with bringing a youthful vitality to the Democrats, something the party will need in order to stop referring to the county's performance as a consolation. "We need young blood to work together with senior citizens to win statewide elections."

...

State party Chairman Scott Maddox ... offered the audience some energizing rhetoric of his own.

"What's wrong with being liberal?" he said, bringing the crowd to cheers. "Liberals brought us out of the Depression. Liberals brought us out of World War II. Liberals brought us lower deficits. Liberals brought us the civil rights movement. I'd rather have the liberals of yesteryear than the conservatives of today."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cedwards27feb27,0,4831605.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

From another article:

Edwards acknowledged that Democrats have been widely criticized for allowing themselves to be perceived as unwilling to take strong stands on a variety of issues. Many voters who supported Bush said they voted for him in part because of his own perceived strong convictions.


Yet Edwards said Democrats have a long, proud history of supporting equal economic opportunity for all, improved access to health care, environmental protection and labor rights.


"Everyone, and I mean everyone, deserves a chance to do well," Edwards said. "And we have a moral responsibility to help those who are doing everything right, but are still struggling."

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/C69857/

[Clarkie1]

1. Nice to hear more democrats using the "L" word.

"What's wrong with being liberal?" he said, bringing the crowd to cheers. "Liberals brought us out of the Depression. Liberals brought us out of World War II. Liberals brought us lower deficits. Liberals brought us the civil rights movement. I'd rather have the liberals of yesteryear than the conservatives of today."

Too bad Kerry and most of the other candidates with the exception of Clark, Kucinich, and Mosely-Brown ran away from the "L" word.

[AP]

3. Maddox said that.

By the way, listen to JFKennedy speeches from 1960 -- Kennedy was ALWAYS praising liberals. He embraced the term "liberal" and would tell people what it meant to be a Democrat in his speeches.

[Clarkie1]

4. Yes, I know. I have bookmarks of those. n/t

[independentchristian]

2. John Edwards invited to speak...

...at international gathering. The man looks like a President, lol.

http://www.ameinfo.com/news/Detailed/54644.html