Sunday, January 14, 2007

John Edwards Leads in North Carolina

With all the buzz surrounding Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the media conveniently forgets that John Edwards is also in the top tier and doing just fine. Marie Horrigan of The New York Times has the numbers:
In national polls on the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards — a 2004 White House contender who ended up as the party’s vice presidential nominee — finds himself looking up at a potent pair of potential candidates: Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

But Edwards, who on Dec. 28 announced his bid for the party’s presidential nod, at least appears to be holding his own in his home state.

A survey released Wednesday by the Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling found that Edwards was favored by 29 percent of the respondents described as likely voters in the 2008 North Carolina Democratic presidential primary. Clinton and Obama trailed with 16 percent and 15 percent of the vote, respectively.

To be honest, 29 percent is not an overwhelming lead but it's 13-14 points ahead of the other two.

Here's another story on Edwards by Jamie Schuman of the Herald Sun; it's about his presence on the web though if you look back through the archives you can find a similar story (about his blog rather than Myspace) on Cold Flute that I did over six months ago:
On MySpace, the Chapel Hill resident tells the cyber-world that he's a Gemini with a graduate degree and a job. The 53-year-old is married and a "proud parent," but, rest assured, he is interested in networking and making friends.

The local Gemini is John Edwards, and as he begins his presidential campaign from this small town, he is making big use of the new media to reach perspective voters and donors.

On the John Edwards campaign Web site, you can link to the candidate's homepages on MySpace and Facebook, once the realm of college kids looking to scope out a band or a classmate, but increasingly becoming political forums.

(snip)

Of potential candidates, Edwards is leading the way in technology use, said David Paletz, Duke political science professor and expert on American politics and the media. The local politician's message, Paletz said, is, "I'm doing it first. I'm doing it best. I'm doing it in the most extensive way."

(snip)

The Web is a complement to other campaigning tools, said Gross, who added that, as early users of AOL and Prodigy, Edwards and his wife have long been interested in technology.

Generally speaking, candidates who can handle new technology do well though winning the presidency is tough no matter how savvy and technologically adept one is. Nevertheless, radio made a difference for Franklin Roosevelt and TV made a difference for John Kennedy. Although it didn't work for John Dean, it's possible that the web will work for John Edwards.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Edwards is a wolf in sheep's clothing, plain and simple.

Stop for a minute, and consider what he's actually done, and not his talk.

While many members in congress wisely voted against the Iraq war, Edwards not only voted for it, he co-sponsored the disastrous resolution with neocon Joe Lieberman, that made it possible.

Edwards also co-sponsored and voted for the massive increase in H-1b visas, that dumped 195,000 foreign workers on the job market, destroying perhaps hundreds of thousands of American tech careers.

Edwards voted for normal trade relations with China, making American workers have to compete with Chinese labor standards, which of course they can't.

Edwards voted for the DREAM act, forcing states to give in-state tuition (a subsidy) to illegal aliens, when there are poor Americans in these states who can’t afford to send their kids to college, partially because illegal immigration drove down their wages. This act, of course only encourages more illegal immigration because it extends even further the taxpayers obligations to those who break our laws to come here.

But what about civil liberties? Here again, Edwards voted to the Patriot act, perhaps the greatest risk to civil liberties, ever.

Edwards supporters don’t want Edwards to be held accountable for these facts. Yet, Edwards made himself extremely wealthy holding others (such as doctors) accountable - while doctors malpractice premiums rose so much as to make many obstetricians leave their specialty. More illegal alien taxpayer payed births, and fewer obstetricians - could that be why health care costs are skyrocketing?

One simple question - 10 years ago, if you did your job, the way Edwards performed as Senator, do you think he would he advocate that you get a big promotion?

Or do you think he would he have sued you and taken you to the cleaners?

11:17 AM  
Blogger Jude Nagurney Camwell said...

I thought I should mention that "anonymous" is on other blogs today making the exact same comments. He or she is trolling the net looking for John Edwards posts to blast. I don't know how you want to handle it, but I thought you'd want to know.

Here's my post where he (or she) did it.

10:25 PM  
Blogger Poechewe said...

Iddybud, thanks for the tip. I may leave the troll alone for a while as an example of how nervous John Edwards makes political consultants and others who can't handle an honest race. They know he's potentially one of three Democratic candidates that can win in 2008.

Democrats need to be alert to this kind of stuff no matter who is responsible. In late 2005, my wife wrote a letter to Elizabeth Edwards about her cancer and got a real letter back (not a form letter). That speaks volumes to us.

If you manage to identify the commentor above, let us know.

6:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's disturbing that you're both trying to track down someone who made a comment, without making any challange whatsoever to the truthfullness or not of what was said

That really doesn't say much for supporters of this candidate

11:56 AM  
Blogger Poechewe said...

David, if that's your name, you're obsessing over this. You also come from Des Moines, Iowa like anonymous. If you're the same person as anonymous, you might want to think about what you're doing.

First, if you want to be taken seriously and reach an audience, do your own blog and carefully step by step make your arguments. Second, don't do multiple hit pieces on various blogs using the same m.o. It's as bad as sending multiple copies of a letter to the editor to various newspapers.

If you're not a political operative, consultant or just a Republican voter playing games (and we've seen plenty of that), then slow down. You can criticize Edwards but keep it specific to the post you're addressing. If you have a candidate you prefer, you're better off supporting that candidate than cutting down someone anonymously. Good luck.

7:09 PM  

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