It doesn’t say life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profit in the Declaration of Independence.
- John Edwards
Welcome to your Edwards Evening News Roundup! I'm reporting live from New Hampshire, where at the moment, the big news is a heck of a lot of snow. I wasn't able to go into the office in Concord today to volunteer because of it, but I'll share my thoughts on why I've come up to New Hampshire a second time to canvass and phone bank for John Edwards, and I have news on upcoming events in the Granite State. It's cold outside here and in much of America, so grab a cup of hot cocoa and join me for the Edwards Evening News.
UPDATE
I've just learned that Iowa first lady Mari Culver has endorsed John Edwards!
"I think John is a winner. He's electable," she said. "He's been tested. He's been on the national ticket before. The national polls show him beating all Republicans in the general elections. He inspires me. I think he inspires other Iowans, and I think he can really rally Americans in the fall."
Report from New Hampshire
See this white stuff on the ground? Pretty, isn't it? But it's cold, and I don't like the cold. So why am I in New Hampshire for the second time this winter, volunteering for John Edwards?
John Edwards gives me hope for our country in one of its darkest hours, because he's a fighter who will work aggressively for real change. He's the idea man -- the one who has come out with bold ideas for change and come out with them first, putting pressure on the rest of the field to deliver more than just slogans.
Edwards has put poverty on the national agenda again. Without his "Two Americas" theme, we would not be talking about this issue. I feel that I can say without a doubt that Edwards has the best policy on all of my top issues -- universal healthcare, global warming, ending the war in Iraq, the economy, and helping working people. He has a record as an aggressive advocate for regular people and he will take on the special interests in Washington and beat them, giving us our country back. I think that's more than just talk. I believe it. Because the truth is that obtaining justice always requires a fight.
This primary is the most important one I can remember -- or at least the most important one that we still have a chance to get right. Will we nominate the candidate who will really stand up and fight for our interests? Or will we nominate a politician who will continue to play the same old games?
That's why I'm here in New Hampshire canvassing, making phone calls, and whatever else is needed. (If I've called you during dinner, I do apologize!)
Next week, some other activists will come out to New Hampshire to make the case for John Edwards, and they are actually people you may have heard of. Some of the phone calls I've been making are invitations to the following events with John Edwards, Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt. If you're in New Hampshire next week, I hope you'll come out to one of these:
Town Hall with John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Dec 18, 2007
Tuesday, Dec. 18th - 12:00 PM
Lebanon Opera House
51 N. Park Street
Lebanon, NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Town Hall with John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Dec 18, 2007
Tuesday, Dec 18th - 4:15 PM
Keene State College
Mabel Brown Room
229 Main Street
Keene, NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Town Hall with John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Dec 18, 2007
Tuesday, December 18th - 7:45 PM
Daniel Webster College
Auditorium
20 University Drive
Nashua, NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Town Hall with John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Dec 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 19th - 11:45 AM
The Frank Jones Center
400 Route 1 Bypass
Portsmouth NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Town Hall with John Edwards
Dec 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 19th - 4:00 PM
Macintosh College
Main Campus
23 Cataract Avenue
Dover, NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Town Hall with John Edwards, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne
Dec 19, 2007
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 - 6:30 PM
The Palace Theater
80 Hanover Street
Manchester, NH
To RSVP CLICK HERE
Middle-Class Rising
Today in Iowa, John Edwards laid out his plan to strengthen the middle class in an important speech. TomP had a great diary on this earlier. Here's my favorite quote from JRE's speech today:
Here's what's happened – corporate greed and political calculation have taken over our government and sold out the middle class. Washington isn't looking out for the middle class because Washington doesn't work for the middle class anymore...That is wrong. It doesn't say life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profit in the Declaration of Independence. America is about opportunity for you... and your families, your children. But our government is selling out their future at the command of lobbyists and their corporate clients and we have to rise up together and stop it. We have to rise up and say, no more. Not on our watch.
Some of the key high-level points of his plan, which you can read in much more detail here.
- Create Good Jobs that Pay Enough to Support a Family
Invest in the Industries of the Future: Renewable sources of energy – including ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar – can create new industries and at least 1 million new jobs...
Enact Smarter Trade Policies...
Eliminate Tax Incentives to Move Offshore...
Make Work Pay by Raising the Minimum Wage...
Reform the Tax Code to Reward Work, Not Wealth...
Build Career Ladders...
Strengthen Workers' Right to Organize...
- Give Americans the Tools to Build a Secure Retirement
Create Universal Retirement Accounts that Move from Job to Job...
End the Housing Crisis...
Rein in Credit Card and Other Abusive Lending...
- Remove the Burdens that Are Weighing Families Down
Make College More Affordable...
Offer Universal Preschool and Expand Affordable Child Care...
Create Paid Family and Medical Leave...
Help Families with Rising Home Heating Costs...
- Guarantee True Universal Health Care
Edwards will take on the big insurance and drug companies and guarantee true universal health care for every man, woman and child in America...
Deliver Better Care at Lower Cost...
Kevin Bacon has been campaigning with Edwards in Iowa this weekend. Here's a fun clip of him at one of the Edwards rallies:
The Morning Show Trifecta
Edwards hit the Sunday morning talk show trifecta with appearances on Face the Nation, This Week, and Late Edition. Videos below:
Face the Nation
This Week
Late Edition
Road Warrior
Newsweek has a cover story coming out on John Edwards. While they play the usual mainstream media trick of trying to create a false sense of "balance" by including criticisms that are off-base and sometimes even a few cheap shots, it is overall a good and positive article. It gives a compelling perspective on his personal story, and even has some interesting facts you may not have heard before.
I like this little tidbit of something that happened right after the 2004 election:
After withdrawing from the race, Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, chatted informally with staffers and campaign reporters at a farewell dinner at Sullivan's Steakhouse in Raleigh, N.C. The two were exhausted but relaxed, no longer feeling they had to watch their every word. Everyone was wondering if he would run again. Edwards, perhaps not wanting to appear impolitic, didn't touch the subject. But Elizabeth was in a more expansive mood, and spoke for her husband. At the hotel two nights before, they had stayed in room 2008. Surely, she said, that wasn't a coincidence.
Since this year's primary contest already has us examining the early schooldays of some of the candidates, we might as well include this story about John Edwards encouraging students to join a sit-in during high school:
Tall and good-looking—and he knew it—John Edwards was a popular student and a star football player, skinny but fast. His high-school friend John Mashburn remembers Edwards as a leader. "In a little redneck town, he was different," he says. There was still racial tension in Robbins in the early 1970s, and black students were sometimes mistreated. In protest, several of them once held a sit-in. Edwards persuaded his white friends to join in. "Johnny got a lot of the athletes, myself, our girlfriends ... he was instrumental in encouraging us," Mashburn says. John Frye, another high-school friend, says it was a gutsy thing to do. He "stuck his neck out," Frye recalls. "There was a price to pay in how some folks treated him after that. We had people who didn't embrace desegregation even though it had been a bridge crossed years earlier."
Critics who try to paint John Edwards's passion for social justice as a new thing may want to look at this story. I think it proves them wrong.
Edwards Diary Roundup
Ready to Support Edwards, and Why by ayawisgi
Krugman Asks Us to Fight for a New New Deal and Not Betray Progressivism by MontanaMaven
Edwards Highlights Declaration Of Independence For Older Americans by Chaoslillith
What is Corporate Social Responsibility? by Karita Hummer
John Edwards Will Fight by mdgarcia
Edwards: "It doesn’t say life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profit" by TomP
On Lieberman's endorsement of McCain -- Edwards was right by JeremiahFP
John Edwards, NH Letter to the editor by SMucci
John Edwards: They aren't going to just give their power away by Jamess
Endorsement Seeks to Cement the Wrong Attitude by RDemocrat
Edwards IOWA Town Hall Meeting by GUGA
Take Action for One America
Many of our EENR readers who don't live in the early states have asked us what they can do to help. Here are a list of four things you can do:
Road Trip for One America -- travel to an early state to help the Edwards campaign.
Phone banking -- sign up here to make calls to New Hampshire.
Make a donation -- support the campaign that's running on grassroots power. Tell the FEC that small donors matter!
Write letters to Iowa voters -- join Democracy for America's efforts to help a progressive when the Iowa caucus.
Quote of the Day
I'm not saying we're going to start a new daily section for this in EENR or anything, but I couldn't resist this one from Atrios:
Shorter Candidates
Obama: The system sucks, but I'm so awesome that it'll melt away before me.
Edwards: The system sucks, and we're gonna have to fight like hell to destroy it.
Clinton: The system sucks, and I know how to work within it more than anyone.