I'm sure some of you will recall a rather hysterical-sounding diary written a couple weeks ago here at Daily Kos in which the diarist claimed that the front-page Washington Post story, written by John Solomon, about the sale of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards's Georgetown house signaled "the end of Edwards' campaign." In tomorrow's Washington Post, there will be a printed statement from ombudsman Deborah Howell that, for all intents and purposes, will finally put an end to the undue speculation about the Edwards family's integrity.
There have been other discussions and comments among the bloggers here at Daliy Kos about the story. WaPo political writer Jonathan Weisman, while not wishing to "snipe" about a colleague, expressed concern, during an internet chat on January 19, that he had been looking for "more of a connection between the Edwards and the buyers", and that he "didn't see it." Jamison Foser of Media Matters wrote to Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell on January 25, appealing to her sense of fairness about what appeared to be a story with no political substance.
Excerpt from Accurate, but Not the Whole Story
By Deborah Howell
Sunday, January 28, 2007; Washington Post; Page B06:
Accurate stories can be misleading. [..]
[..] I kept waiting to read about the connection between the Klaassens and Edwards that would make this sale unseemly; it wasn't there. Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said Edwards "has never met or spoken with them; nor have they contributed to his campaign."
The story was interesting, but it was more of an item for the Reliable Source or In the Loop -- and not worth Page 1. It seemed like a "gotcha" without the gotcha.
The story also lacked needed financial context. It noted that Edwards bought the house for $3.8 million in 2002 and sold it last month for $5.2 million after it was on and off the market for 18 months.
But the story didn't pin down that the house, in the 3300 block of P Street, had at least $1 million in renovations, said several sources. The asking price originally was $6.5 million and had been lowered twice, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the region's multiple listing service.
And the story didn't mention how home prices had risen from 2002 to 2006 -- for District single-family homes, the gain was 61 percent, said Fred Kendrick of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokers. Applying those numbers would put Edwards's house at about $6.1 million, not counting the renovation costs.
"It's not like buyers were lined up at the door," said Connie Maffin of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. "From a real estate standpoint, money talks and nothing else does." Maffin is the head of the D.C. Real Estate Board and a past president of the local Realtors' group.