As many of you know, I was a very strong Gephardt supporter. As only a few of you know, I worked for Gephardt in his DC HQ on L Street.
Dick Gephardt remains one of the few truly decent people in politics and I am sure that he will continue his lifelong fight for working people in his last year in public service. Gephardt embodied the ideals that we all look for in an American President. Sadly, it did not translate to electoral victory.
For his almost three decades of service to the people of his St. Louis district, the people of the working class, and to the people of the United States he deserves all the recognition and praise that is his due.
I have personally grown working on his campaign. I have again remembered that politics is always personal, always about what the constituents want, and always about leaving a place better than it was before you came.
Now that I'm looking for a job again and mental relaxing after 7 months of very hard work I have more time to think about what comes next and more importantly who I will support...
That man is Senator John Edwards...
James Carville called him "the best stump speaker I have ever seen ... better than Bill Clinton." He is likeable, good-looking, and can weave together a story and an idea like no one I have seen.
Keep in mind that for the average voter, the 2000 Election, did not come down to the position on taxes, abortion, Guns, God or Gays. It came down to who voters liked the most, who they empathized with, and more importantly who they trusted. The voters made a decision and Bush was their guy despite the Clinton policy record.
Average Americans don't know what discretionary spending means or "tax sunsets" or means-testing. They know and care about those certain intangibles known to many as their 'gut.'
John Edwards is my gut. But more importantly from a messaging perspective he can tell the stories that will resonate in the voters' 'gut.'
For the policy minded he has the most comprehensive policy proposals of any candidate.
For everyone else he can translate those proposals into a powerful can-do, up-by-the-bootstraps message that is not only true of himself but resonates with all Americans who want the same thing for their children and themselves.
I have no desire to move to Columbia, SC to work for him but I will do everything I can wherever I am.
