- About Us
- News
- Events
- Media
- Issues
- Blog
- Take Action
- Groups
- Contribute
Paul H. Heintz
Brattleboro Reformer
Jul 11, 2007
KEENE, N.H. -- One of the best known spouses of a presidential candidate drew a crowd of 150 to a backyard house party in Keene Tuesday evening. No, it wasn't former president Bill Clinton. He's not scheduled to visit Keene until Friday.
Rather, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former North Carolina senator John Edwards, told enthusiastic audience members why they should support her husband for the Democratic nomination.
Speaking with every bit the eloquence and persuasiveness of a presidential candidate, Mrs. Edwards said her husband's campaign "has always been a campaign of ideas and a campaign of change."
If he wins the nomination, she said, the former senator would pursue a "50-state strategy" -- campaigning in traditionally conservative states such as Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.
"You just need a candidate who speaks their language," she said. "You can't win there if you don't campaign there."
A prominent part of her husband's 2004 presidential and vice presidential campaigns, Elizabeth Edwards garnered national headlines in March when she announced she was once again battling breast cancer.
The Edwards said the campaign would go on despite the news, and Mrs. Edwards has since attracted extraordinary attention in her public fight against the disease. "I don't make a habit of spitting into fans," Edwards said Tuesday evening, alluding to her illness. "I want to make sure my days mean something."
Throughout the event, which was held at the house of Keene School Board member Kathleen O'Donnell, hot and humid skies appeared close to opening up and drenching the audience.
Nevertheless, Edwards took her time answering questions ranging from health care to outsourcing to habeas corpus -- weaving much of the rest of Sen. Edwards' platform into her answers.
Citing her own father's military service, Edwards said, "We are not treating our military men and women with the respect they deserve."
She said veterans ought to receive immediate and full medical examinations when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan, and she said her husband would ensure that Veterans Administration funding would not be subject to political battles.
Many of those now serving in the military joined after the 9/11 attacks, she said, "and yet when they come back, nobody stands up for them."
When asked about the movement of manufacturing jobs from the United States to Asia, Edwards said that with her husband, "We can have a president who actually cares about American jobs."
Calling the North American Free Trade Agreement a "failure," she said that, in an Edwards administration, future agreements would require trading partners to improve safety, environmental and labor conditions.
Edwards argued that importing vast quantities of foreign goods not only hurts American workers, but also the environment -- leaving a massive "carbon footprint." By the same token, she said, focusing on developing alternative energy technology would help spur the economy.
Prior to the Bush administration, she said, "We led in industry, we led in technology, but now we're not doing either."
Addressing the Iraq war head-on, Edwards said, "Our presence there is a hot flame." Withdrawing troops now would be "helpful not only to bring the temperature down in Iraq" but also to increase the likelihood of regional cooperation.
Edwards said a political solution, rather than a military solution, is necessary and that only with the threat of withdrawal would competing Sunni and Shia forces sit down and negotiate with one another.
"You cannot keep threatening to spank a child. Eventually, you have to spank them," she said.
Keene resident Roberta Barry came away from the event impressed.
"She's very well informed and very articulate. She knows the issues, and if John's the choice it'll be a powerhouse team."
"She's a human being," Barry's husband, John, said. "She's not putting it on. She's not making it up. She's telling it how it is."
Spofford resident Nancy Crawford said she didn't need much convincing.
"We've been in the John Edwards camp right from the start," she said. "I think he has plans that have details. It's not just a promise that something's going to change."
Q&A: Educational Disparity
John Edwards answers a question about educational disparity at Hanover Middle School in Hanover, N.H. on September 27, 2007
Paid for by John Edwards for President Contributions to John Edwards for President are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.
© 2006 John Edwards for President, 410 Market Street, Suite 400, Chapel Hill, NC 27516
