AP: Edwards nixes campaign stops for speech on poverty

[KillCapitalism]

Source: Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards canceled campaign events in Alabama and North Dakota to make a "major policy address on poverty" Wednesday in New Orleans, where he launched his presidential bid 13 months ago.

Campaign officials said Edwards, who has trailed Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in recent primaries, does not plan to end his candidacy and will reschedule the two dropped trips. Nonetheless, people close to the campaign said Tuesday's announcement caught them off guard, and some found it perplexing.

In a news release, the Edwards campaign called poverty "the great moral issue of our time." In recent days, it said, "national discussion of important issues like ending poverty has given way to sniping and personal attacks between the two front-runner candidates. Ending poverty and fighting for the middle class is the cause of John Edwards' life — and he will urge the nation to refocus on this important issue."

Democratic activists have openly speculated that the former North Carolina senator may have to leave the race soon because he has been unable to keep pace with Obama and Clinton in gaining votes, media attention and fundraising. After narrowly edging Clinton for second place in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, Edwards has fared poorly. On Saturday, he finished a distant third in his native South Carolina, whose primary he won in 2004.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/ap_on_el_pr/edwards

---

I still can't get why Edwards is not getting more support. Poverty is one of the biggest issues we face, and we need a candidate like him to help end it once and for all. This is a case of Democrats not voting in their own best interests.

[onehandle]

1. Selfish Bastard!

Go John!

[AzDar]

2. We. Need. Edwards.

:kick:

[More Than A Feeling]

3. Because people don't want to think about the poor

or want to think of themselves as working class. Everyone is "middle class." :sarcasm:

[metamars]

12. Why the sarcasm?

How many times have you heard or read that somebody said "We were poor, and didn't even know it?"

IMO, Edwards cannot win by marketing his message like that. Instead, he should focus on the "VANISHING middle class", and make people think about HOW MUCH LONGER they or their children can remain in the VANISHING middle class.

He can do this by asking them what their odds are on avoiding bankruptcy in their adult life due to medical care costs, how on earth people are supposed to pay off ever increasing college education costs when better jobs are continually being outsourced, and what kind of life will they have when rent/house payments make up such a huge percentage of their income. (This last depends on what region people live in. I have relatives who have moved from Brookly, NY, to New Jersey because they couldn't afford Brooklyn, anymore. And I've talked to retirees that have lived their whole lives in NJ, and have to move because they can't afford their property taxes.)

In other words, Edwards should focus on dwindling job prospects on the one hand, and on the other, major ticket items that have far outstipped the cost of inflation.

It'd also help if he were HONEST ENOUGH to point out that median standard of living has been dropping since Carter was president, through both Republican and Democratic administrations.

[PinkyisBlue]

22. John Edwards is focusing on the vanishing middle class.

I heard him speak in NH, and he was wonderful. And he does focus on the vanishing middle class, good jobs outsourced to other countries, increasing corporate control of our govt., etc. If you haven't heard him speak live, you may be getting a distorted view of his message.

[metamars]

23. How did Edwards summarize his message(s)?

Ha! I've not heard him speak live, and I may have fallen for the media's summation of his message, rather than his own! If so, mea culpa.
Also, I rarely watch TV. Can you tell me what his TV ads said? Did they say "I, John Edwards, will fight to end poverty" or did they say "I, John Edwards, will fight for the middle class, which is vanishing?"

BTW, Elizabeth Kucinich is looking towards the future, and (quite properly, IMO) looking for outside-the-box approaches.

See http://truthemergency.us/content/view/51/52/

[PSPS]

4. "unable to keep pace with Obama and Clinton in gaining votes, media attention and fundraising."

Without 'media attention,' he can't get votes or donations. And the media refuses to give him more than the perfunctory 'attention' because he's a threat to the five people who own virtually every media outlet in the country (all 'bush pioneers.')

[Ahmed]

Why not??

If they won't cover the guy because it's too much work, then why not do different things?? He might get coverage if the MSM thinks he's dropping out. I just think the buyer's remorse the Dems are going to feel this fall will make Kerry's candidacy look good. Why do Dems think they have to compromise and end up with the weakest candidate? There's a reason W got elected twice that has nothing to do with voting shenanigans.....

[FlyingSquirrel]

24. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[ozone_man]

5. A perfect time to focus on poverty.

As the economy heads into recession, poverty needs to be highlighted as a prime issue. Very good move by Edwards. Talk about poverty and class issues, they're the ones that will resonate the best.

Oh, and we have another fund raising date coming up. By Thursday I think?

[7horses]

6. Poverty?

Poor people in America? Oh come on?
:sarcasm:

Give em Hell John!!!

[robcon]

7. Hint: IsJohn going to drop out?

An unannounced speech before an unprepped crowd is a strange thing to do in a campaign, unless it's to make a big announcement.

[MilesColtrane]

8. He knows that his chances of winning the nomination are dwindling rapidly...

...but, he knows he can still influence the debate, platform, and eventual candidate of the Democratic party.

He has promised to stay in the race until the convention, and I believe that.

This move proves what he has been saying all along, that his campaign is not about him, it's about the country's future.

[FirstLight]

11. Look, Dropping out is NOT an option for him,

So I wish you would stop hinting and wishing for it...

He is making the move to get attention on an issue that is VITAL to our country and for more than 37 million Americans in poverty or hanging by a thread. (myself included)

I hate it when people speculate...or comment that he should give it up

He has made it very clear, he ain't leavin!

Let me 'splain

This is his LIFE's WORK... to END POVERTY in AMERICA

This is the richest nation, or used to be...and now we are facing dire issues on ALL fronts.
John Edwards is the ONLY one who has a REAL COHESIVE PLAN to link the poverty remedies with the environmental remedies.
AND he has VOWED to all of us who have had NO voice - to GIVE us one.

I hope he asks the tough questions of WHY ew Orleans is still a wasteland after ? years since Katrina, WHY people were left to fend for thmselves there for DAYS, WEEKS & MONTHS... And I hope he uses the backdrop af a great american travesty on the poor to tell us ALL how he WILL change it when he IS President!

whew! Thanks, I just had to get that off my chest! ;)~

[MilesColtrane]

13. I'm pretty sure that you meant that as a response to the OP, and not to mine.

I am an Edwards supporter, and I'll continue to contribute to his campaign despite his chances of winning or losing.

[robcon]

17. His'sudden' need to make an unannounced speech in New Orleans is suspect.

That's my speculation... if he just wanted to make a speech on poverty, he could do that at his originally planned venues, or he could announce it several days in advance to prep his audience and the media for a major speech.

The suddenness is suspect, IMO... he could drop out tomorrow.

btw, please spare me: saying John's LIFE's WORK is to end poverty. His life's work so far is to be a trial lawyer, then Senator, and he hadn't been on a 'poverty-reducing' program before mid-2007.

[xxqqqzme]

19. too bad you weren't listening in 2004

then! THAT'S when the two America's speech took shape. He has been refining it ever since.

[robcon]

21. Dropping out just became not only an option, but a choice for him.

n/t

[Ilsa]

9. I can't get it either. He is very electable, no big baggage,

great Democratic positions. Stands up well against mccain. Let's try to hang on through the mid-country primaries. MAybe more of the voters won't listen to the media about who is the presumptive nominee.

[peteburgos]

10. Edwards is a warrior

Keep up the great work.

[balantz]

14. Katherine Newman interviewed on Democracy Now! today:

Newman tells Amy Goodman that the only democratic candidate addressing poverty is Edwards:

~snip~

AMY GOODMAN I recently just heard John Edwards saying if he were not in the race, he doubts the word “poverty” would be raised again. Do you share that assessment Katherine Newman?

KATHERINE NEWMAN I absolutely share that assessment. As far as I’m concerned he’s the only candidate who has made the issue of poverty central. And this is why I am a supporter of his from the very beginning. he understands theses structural inequalities are not going to go away unless we attack the problem of poverty. Which is something we did whole heartedly during the Johnson years and we came back to it in many ways in the years that followed, but it is almost as though the poor do not exist. If we put together the poor, the 37 million poor people in the US with the over 50 million who are near poor, we’re talking about almost one-third of the American population. What are the democrats going to do for them? I think the meltdown in the economy has frightened everyone to the point where we are thinking only about the middle class. While the middle class is important, this huge population, 90 million people, over 30% of the nation’s children, deserve some attention. John Edwards was attempting to give it to them and still is.

~snip~

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/29/kathleen_newman_b...

[balantz]

15. Drop out? I don't think so.

I expect one of the others to drop out at some point and then it will be Edwards against one opponent.

[midnight]

16. The media has done a superb job in telling us what to think.

It is hard to know the facts, when they are so distorted. Thanks John, for trying to straighten the information out for us.

[OwnedByFerrets]

18. Maybe John should start discussing American Idol contestants.......

that seems to be what most of amerika wants to talk about.:sarcasm:

[robcon]

20. The word is out. JE is quitting the race.

Announcement today.

[FlyingSquirrel]

25. Well YAY FOR YOU. Got one right.

:sarcasm:

[robcon]

26. Thanks, FlyingSquirrel

It's always good to see a genuine expression of congratulations from a fellow DUer.
:sarcasm: