I wonder where the Edwards campaign will be based.  Raleigh or Des Moines.

While Iraq will certainly be a huge issue in the race for 2008, it doesn't seem like there will be a lot of unique positions among the group of main contenders. The consensus seems to be "phased redeployment."

Other than Iraq, what I see as the biggest problem facing America is the unfathomable, disproportionately huge amount of interest that large corporations have been wielding over government policy. We've seen tax policies and corporate welfare legislation that have been working to destroy the middle class, and energy policies working to destroy the government.

Hillary Clinton and the DLC Dems haven't shown any willingness to stand up to the influence of big business. I see Hillary as ushering in 8 more years of Bill Clinton policy, which did little to prohibit the slide toward favoring business at the expense of the individual.

Obama hasn't been overwhelmingly impressive in this area either, and while I'd be inclined to support him because of his extreme popularity and media savvy, I'll be firmly in the Edwards camp until he proves himself to me as a fighter for the middle class.

New Orleans is a great location for Edwards to begin his campaign, and I hope his announcement gets the coverage it deserves.

That would be sheer torture, wouldn't it?

(Note to Boston Public Television: I'm kidding).

If John wants to pursue this he should follow up by touring the forgotten victims -- the Mississippi gulf coasters and the rural people who were abandoned while power lines were shredded over more than ten thousand square miles and all the resources were going to the harder hit areas.

And mentioning that Florida or the Carolinas could be next wouldn't be detrimental.

Bush showed up in the middle of the night, had his people set up a lighted scene (in the middle of a city that had no power) and told a bunch of bald-faced lies about how he would help the people of New Orleans.

Contrast that with Edwards, in the middle of the day, with the still-devastated ruins of New Orleans behind him, speaking about those who have been forgotten, how the American people deserve better than this and how America, as a nation, will again prove itself to be better than this.

I think regardless of Edwards' political success, I'm glad at least one candidate is talking about poverty, and focusing on the Katrina disaster.  Edwards has been to NOLA more than any other candidate and has a real grasp of poverty issues.

Edwards is the only candidate expected to actually run that has a significant netroots appeal.  Aside from Gore, who almost certainly won't run, and Clark, who probably won't, Edwards is the most progressive, labor-friendly, people-power focused candidate in the field.

He also remains the only candidate who voted FOR the war (out of Kerry, Clinton, and Biden) who has said publically it was a bad decision.  Kerry of course rides the fence and said that based on the information at the time it was the right decision, but in retrospect not.  Edwards says it was plain wrong.

This is very significant.

But this is a very smart decision.

If this is true, I like it.

I don't ever remembering a presidential announcement coming in the dead week between Christmas and New Year. I think he caught the other campaigns flat-footed.

maybe there should be a committee (or maybe a subcommittee on appropriatons) created just for that. that's something pelosi and reid could do now that might make a big difference.

Whoever is doing his advance work must be really good. I wonder if it's the same person?

July 2, 2004

...Speaking of advance, Sam Meyers, who ran Edwards' advance team in the '04 primaries, is moving over to Camp Kerry to run advance for the VP. (Is it just us, or are a lot of Edwards' folks headed to work on Kerry's VP staff?)...

July 6, 2004

....A few Democratic operatives showing up there, I believe, at this time. Right, Kelly?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, yes, we have seen some aides go inside the senator's home, including a couple of aides who worked on his presidential campaign, Sam Meyers (ph), who did advance. We believe he will be doing advance for the vice presidential tickets. And also Kim Ruby (ph), who was one of the senator's press secretaries during the primary, who we believe will also be working for him now that he is the running mate...

Before I saw this I didn't think edwards was going to do too well.  However it seems like this time he is taking a lot of genuine stands on issues.

This is one thing I've been hoping for this primary.  That the large amount of candidates will have a positive influence on each other by pushing for seperate, but good issues.

He could announce all week. Start with a few locations in and around the city - from Lakeview to the lower 9th - working east through Missisippi. Maybe then people would get an idea of scale.

Not that I'm greedy or anything

I think he'll get multiple pops.

I like Edwards.

I wish he had more of a track record so that I could evaluate his candidacy on a more rational level; but I think his (very effectively communicated) stance against corporate greed and short-sightedness is so crucial right now, that he gets a lot of points (from me, anyway) for that alone. When I was visiting my grandparents and they needed a plumber, his brother's name was right there in the book.