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Patrick Meighan
Nashua Telegraph
May 13, 2007
John Edwards couldn't have asked for better weather or a more receptive audience when he stopped by a Saturday picnic for a carpenters union.
The more than 300 members present from N.H. Local 118 weren't wearing choir robes, but they may as well have been as Edwards preached to them about the important role organized labor plays in America.
Edwards, former senator from North Carolina and Democratic presidential candidate, hammered home a message of strengthening the middle class through strengthened unions.
The stop at the Alpine Grove Banquet Facility was brief. After speaking for about 6 minutes, Edwards spent three times as long working the crowd, shaking hands and accommodating photo requests from families.
One of his fans, Liz Skidmore, practically stalked Edwards across the grounds, at one pointing tripping as she angled for position with her camera.
"I fell down for him," laughed Skidmore, employed by the union as an organizer.
Skidmore, who lives in Boston but works out of Raymond, admitted to being a huge supporter of Edwards.
"He's the only one—every time I see him—he talks about how important unions are," Skidmore said.
Luis Sanchez, a carpenter from Manchester, said Edwards was the ideal speaker on a day of celebration for his union.
Organizers said the picnic was held as a thank-you to union members from the state.
Sanchez said he liked Edwards' speech, adding, "He a good candidate for all of us."
In remarks that were frequently interrupted by loud applause, Edwards touched on familiar themes, but not without first relaying a message from his wife, Elizabeth, who is battling cancer. Many of the people the candidate spoke with passed along words of encouragement for her health.
"Elizabeth sends her love. She's doing well," Edwards said.
Edwards noted that since the 2004 election, when he was the Democratic vice presidential candidate, he's been traveling throughout the nation to help organize workers and to get legislation passed to raise the minimum wage. Six states have passed laws raising the wage, he said.
He also mentioned that he's been running a poverty center at the University of North Carolina.
"The greatest anti-poverty movement in American history is the organized labor movement," Edwards said. "America needs to understand how important the organized labor movement is to lifting millions of families out of poverty, and how important the movement has been historically in making America what it is today."
He added, "The organized labor movement was absolutely crucial to building the middle class in this country. We all worry about the loss of manufacturing jobs. A lot of people have forgotten that none of those jobs were good jobs before the unions. It was the unions that made them good jobs."
Edwards then touted his "simple idea" for labor law reform.
"If you can join the Republican Party by signing your name to a card, any worker in America should be able to join a union by doing the same thing," he said.
Edwards said he was proud to be the only presidential candidate so far to outline a specific plan for universal health care. He said he would mandate health coverage for every man, woman and child in America. Under his plan, the coverage would be broad, including preventative and chronic care and encompassing dental and vision care, with premiums subsidized for all Americans who earn less than $100,000 a year.
"And, it costs $90 to $120 billion a year, paid for by Bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year," he said.
Lastly, Edwards said, "We need desperately to reclaim the mantle of patriotism in this country. George Bush has used the word patriotism to justify every bad thing that he's done. Everything from Guantanamo to the illegal spying on Americans to the ongoing war in Iraq."
He called for Americans this Memorial Day holiday weekend to show their patriotism by standing up to support the troops.
"The best way to support the troops is to end this war and bring them home," he told his audience at Alpine Grove.
Earlier Saturday, Edwards appealed to college students to demand an end to the Iraq War during a commencement address he gave at New England College.
Q&A: Educational Disparity
John Edwards answers a question about educational disparity at Hanover Middle School in Hanover, N.H. on September 27, 2007
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