(I was sorry I missed this. Thankfully, we have sources everywhere... - promoted by Mike)
Edwards Report: I plan to try to see as many candidates of both parties as they come to woo us New Hampshire voters. As you know, we (generally) get to see them in small informal settings.
Yesterday, John Edwards accompanied by his wife addressed about 500 of us at Dartmouth alumni hall. The room was crowded, there was an overflow room with video elsewhere, and a fair number of TV cameras and press photographers. His organization seemed to be well prepared as signs, flags, buttons and bumper stickers were passed out. My guess is that it was about a sixty/forty split between students and non students. It was a "town hall" type format where the candidate was in the center and surrounded by his audience. Edwards spoke for about ten minutes and then answered questions for about a half hour.
The thrust of his talk was that he was an honest candidate who would always tell the truth and made it clear that this approach was in direct contrast to the current president. His key quote on this was that when Bush speaks the country needs to hear: "honest, openness, a sense of decency, and a belief that our president...is...doing the best he can--I think we get none of that--I think we get a sales job." He went onto say that: "There is lot of discussion ...about the erosion of America's image in the world. This is much more serious than that. That makes it sound superficial....If we don't lead, there is no stabilizing force in the world."
He called for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq, (maintaining that by staying in Iraq we are enabling the Iraqis to fight among themselves and not to take responsibility for their own government). He finds the non binding resolutions in Congress as fluff and a waste of time. He talked up the environment and universal health care.
None of his positions surprised me nor did they particularly excite me-- I find his Iraq position to be simplistic. However, he did show some candor that is not like any candidate I have seen for a long time.
Asked about a vote he made approving the decapitating the top of mountains to get at coal deposits, he said he would not vote that way again, but he did as part of a deal with Senator Byrd that in exchange for his vote North Carolina got some funding from Byrd's appropriation committee. Asked about his vote to go into Iraq-- he said he had made a huge mistake (did not blame faulty intelligence) and that the vote was his and only his responsibility. Asked about his immigration policy-- it sounded like Bush's, but he also said that he knew many would not like the fact that he thought a requirement to being a citizen was to learn English-- that could have been left unsaid. Asked about gay marriage, he said he was against it but for full rights for civil unions and partner rights. He said that he was born and raised a Southern Baptist and he was just not comfortable with gay marriage. He said his 24 year old daughter told him that his generation was the last generation that would feel that way. This seeming candor maybe just show, but I have rarely seen it coming from any candidate for any office.
In closing, I noted that the audience seemed to warm towards him and he clearly had supporters in it, but there was no "excitement" like there was when Obama spoke or when Dean ran last time.
