Elizabeth Edwards at Davenport Iowa
Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 08:30:22 PM PDT
About a week ago I was doing some plain-vanilla phone-banking at the Edwards office in Davenport, when suddenly we all switched into event calling - Elizabeth Edwards was going to do a town hall meeting at the Figge Museum on July 17!
When I got home I called one of my sisters, the one who lives nearby, used to be in the Army, and has a son in the Army in Iraq. Want to go with me to see Elizabeth Edwards? Yes, indeed!
So this will be about Elizabeth's town hall, but also about my sister's reactions to it.
We all expected it to start late, it was the last event in a long day, and the previous event was about an hour's drive away.
Finally one of the staff introduced Kate Michelman, who told us why she had decided to support Edwards. Earlier in her life she had experienced being a poor single mother, balanced on a knife edge and with no idea how she and her family would survive. She said that all of the Democratic candidates were impressive, but John Edwards was the one who got it about how hard things are for the poorest in our country. She spun out her intro a bit, then finally confessed that she was hoping that Elizabeth would get done with her interview in time for Kate to catch her plane. Just as she had to leave, Elizabeth made it in, and got a standing ovation. Bev Strayhall, a local Edwards organizer, gave her a quick bio, then Elizabeth took over.
She started off with a two part summary of why John is running for president: that big bold ideas will be needed to get the country back to what we used to regard as normal, and that the ladder of opportunity has had too many rungs kicked out of it of late, and it's time to restore them.
She had time for several questions. Why the loss in 2004, and what will you do better in 2008? (This time we'll fight for every state; agree with Howard Dean on 50 state strategy.) Election reform? (Certain current practices should be outlawed, and we need to get to public financing - which will be an uphill battle.) Housing for low-income families? (Discussion of section 8 voucher reform segued into better oversight of new types of mortgages, credit card debt, payday loans. She recommended a book by Elizabeth Warren on the two income trap.)
Restablishing constitutional balance? Impeach? (That got a cheer.) (She said impeachment may not be possible, but investigation and accountability are going to be totally necessary.)
What would be her big project as First Lady? (Family comes first, with young kids! In addition, set up a mechanism to help military famiilies, who often feel they dare not complain. [THAT got my sister's attention, she's ex-Army herself.] Support medical research in general and breast cancer awareness. Educational opportunities for ALL children.)
Matthews on Hardball, generally positive, but wondered why Edwards was on poverty tour rather than in early caucus/primary state. (The only political calculation is that you get to see his heart. He is forcing the media to look at what is important to him. [My sister the single mother nodded approval.])
How about educational opportunity? (Early childhood help, more equality of funding accross school districts, change NCLB from punitive to remedial, more attention to trade training and unions, college for all) ("This country was made great by people who work with their hands - it was not made great by investment bankers.") [My sister is in college and has children in college; she was strongly interested in this discussion.]
My sister scooped up literature on her way out to use on her kids, and speculated on the way back to the car just how she could display her new bumper sticker for maximum visibility and effect.
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