All posts by jamess

The Race for Delegates is NOT Over

Delegate rules in Super Tuesday states might not produce clear front-runners



In a two- or three-person race such as the Democrats’, proportional allocation means candidates will win some delegates in virtually every state, raising the possibility of a tie, or at least an unsettled race, after Super Tuesday. If there’s no final decision on Super Tuesday, operatives in both parties said, attention would turn to primaries in Texas and Ohio on March 4, in Pennsylvania on April 22 and in other states.

We’re in uncharted territory,” said Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political-science professor.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com…

—-

Well let’s take time for an objective analysis of that Delegate Race …

Sometimes a Picture or two is worth a 1000 rants …

I’ve compiled the Delegate Counts from CNN’s Politics page, as of the morning after the South Carolina Primary:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/20…

These CNN Counts include Pledged Super Delegates.

These Pie Charts tell the story a still quite competitive race:

Pledged Delegates for the first 4 States

Pledged Delegated for ALL States

Pledged Delegates for ALL States Vs ALL Remaining Delegates

I’ve also supplements this with the Unpledged Delegates from Super Tuesday:

Starting with the baseline numbers from this Election Lineup site

[Note the total Super Tuesday Delegates 2,075 was adjust down to reflect those already committed from those states.]

As most objective analysis are now admitting, this still won’t be decided by Super Tuesday.  1902 Delegates are up for grabs that day — no one Candidate is likely to get enough of them, to get to that Magic number needed to win: 2025

Pledged Delegates for ALL States Vs Number of Delegate needed to win

So the race is still on … it’s a long ways from over.

A lot can happen in 3 months.

The best thing to do is to GET BUSY, supporting your Candidate.

As Professor Loomis noted well:

We’re in uncharted territory

It’s probably a good time to dig out those maps:

the Feb 5th Schedule:

Alabama (60, PP);

Alaska (18, CC);

Arizona (67, PP);

Arkansas (47, PP);

California (441, PP);

Colorado (71, CC);

Connecticut (60, PP);

Delaware (23, PP);

Democrats Abroad (11, PP+CC);

Georgia (103, PP);

Idaho (23, CC);

Illinois (185, PP);

Kansas (41, CC);

Massachusetts (121, PP);

Minnesota (88, CC);

Missouri (88, PP);

New Jersey (127, PP);

New Mexico (38, PP);

New York (281, PP);

North Dakota (21, CC);

Oklahoma (47, PP);

Tennessee (85, PP);

Utah (29, PP)

http://www.thegreenpapers.com/…

—-

The fight to Take OUR Country Back Continues

(as does the Fight to Keep it, no doubt.)

Edwards aims to “Reverse the War On Work”

John Edwards is still focusing on Issues that matter to Working Families!

like the Economy … like Taxes.

All the while the GOP continues to “debate” that “only MORE Corporate Tax Cuts will create Jobs and keep the Economy strong!”

Hmmm … Where are all those Jobs, by the way?

Billions in Tax give aways to the Rich, for the last 5+ years, only seem to have strengthen the Rich, it seems to me.

From the John Edwards Issues pages:

In America today, families are working harder to get by.

Half of American families say they are living paycheck to paycheck,

and 3 out of 10 American workers have not been able to save a dime for their retirement.

Wait there’s More !

from the John Edwards Issues pages

who single-handedly put Poverty squarely on the Landscape of Issues:

37,000,000 Americans live in Poverty.

The top 300,000 individuals now make more than the bottom 150,000,000

given that Census reports the USA had Population of 301,621,157 in 2007, these “poorly” reported numbers Chart out this way:

Does the millionaire-elite segment of society, really need any more help?

From the John Edwards Issues pages:

The top 300,000 individuals now make more than the bottom 150,000,000.

The result is Two Americas, one struggling to get by and another that has everything it could want.

Taking a cue from Drew Carey’s “Power of Ten” (the exponential scale)

Refocusing this Wealth imbalance on the scale where “real people” live,

you can hardly see those corporate boardroom movers and shakers, anymore:

Does the millionaire elite segment of society, really need any more help?





John Edwards doesn’t think so:




Solutions for Working Families
, from the John Edwards Issues pages:

John Edwards believes we have to build One American Economy-where everyone has the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.

He will restore respect for work to our tax code and

cut taxes for working families.

He will overhaul our weak labor laws

to give workers a real right to organize.

Strengthen Labor Laws:

Union membership can be the difference between a poverty-wage job and middle-class security.

Federal law promises workers the right to choose a union, but the law is poorly enforced, full of loopholes, and routinely violated by employers. …

Enact Smarter Trade Policies:

Trade deals need to make sense for American workers, not just corporations.

Edwards will make sure any new trade agreements include

strong labor and environmental standards and

will vigorously enforce American workers’ rights in existing agreements. …

Make Work Pay:

Edwards will increase the reward for working by raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012, tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) …

Protect Prevailing Wages:

Edwards pledges to protect the Davis Bacon Act, which ensures that workers on federal construction projects receive the local prevailing wage. …

Help Families Save and Get Ahead:

Edwards will crack down on abusive lenders by creating a new Families Savings and Credit Commission to protect families

Edwards will create Work Bonds to help families save and invest, providing financial safety nets for hard times. …

Work Bonds:

A new tax credit of up to $500, would help low and moderate-income, working Americans save for the future. …

http://www.johnedwards.com/iss…

—-

John Edwards was FIRST to take the cue, from billionaire Warren Buffett, about our US Tax Policy which should NO LONGER favor the Rich over the interest of ordinary Working Folks

Tax Solutions from the John Edwards Issues pages:

Reverse the “War On Work”:

Nothing better reflects the problems with our tax code than the lower tax rates for capital gains. As Warren Buffett says, there is something wrong when he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary.

As president, Edwards will:

  – Raise the tax rate on capital gains to 28 percent for the most fortunate taxpayers – taxing the investment income of the wealthiest Americans similarly to the wages of the middle class.

  – Repeal the Bush tax cuts for the highest-income households and keep the tax on very large estates (above $4 million for couples).

  – Declare war on offshore tax havens by cracking down on tax shelter promoters, cooperating with allies to fight tax havens, and closing the “tax gap” by improving IRS customer service, simplifying tax filing, auditing more large corporations and high-income individuals and requiring more third-party reporting.

  – Close unfair loopholes like the tax breaks for hedge funds and private equity fund managers and unlimited executive pensions.

http://www.johnedwards.com/iss…

—-

For More, in-depth analysis of Edwards Tax Reform Plan, click here.

Given the changing polling in SC, as reported by JedReport, there is definitely a market for a Leader with real substantive Plans like Edwards!

Question: Do you want a President who:

WILL fight for the issues that MATTER

to you and your family?

Isn’t it finally time the Working Folks of America,

finally has their Voice heard in Washington DC —

for a Change?

John Edwards is Speaking up for US!

John Edwards WILL be that Voice for working folks!

Thousands of working people, like you, are stepping up for Edwards, right now:



Edwards breaks Q4 online fundraising in 25 days.


by BruceMcF – Fri Jan 25, 2008 at 10:26:05 AM PST

Learn more:

Edwards on the Issues

http://johnedwards.com/issues/

Meet John Edwards: Selected Clips:

http://www.youtube.com/profile…

Don’t become another statistic …

Vote your conscious.

Vote in your own best interests(while you still have the chance)

Vote for John Edwards!  — It Matters!

and contribute if you can afford it.

thanks!

Media Consolidation — brought to you by Reagan and Clinton

Media Reform Information Center

In 1983, 50 corporations controlled the vast majority of all news media in the U.S.

in 2000, the number had fallen to six. Since then, there have been more mergers and the scope has expanded to include new media like the Internet market. More than 1 in 4 Internet users in the U.S. now log in with AOL Time-Warner, the world’s largest media corporation.

In 2004, Bagdikian’s revised and expanded book, The New Media Monopoly, shows that only 5 huge corporations — Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom (formerly CBS) — now control most of the media industry in the U.S. General Electric’s NBC is a close sixth.

http://www.corporations.org/me…

——

Media Consolidation on NOW

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was created in 1934 with jurisdiction over radio, interstate telephone communication, and later television. But the FCC has always struggled with a fundamental lack of clarity about its proper functions. In its mission to serve the public interest, should the FCC crack down on indecency on the airwaves? Should it use its power to rescind the licenses of wayward stations?

Get background information on some of the FCC’s more recent decisions below:

   * The Fairness Doctrine

   * Media Regulation Timeline

   * Details of FCC Rule Changes

   * Local and National Media Ownership

http://www.pbs.org/now/politic…

——————-

Source: PBS Now

Media Regulation Timeline

1941

Local Radio Ownership Rule, National TV Ownership Rule enacted. A broadcaster cannot own television stations that reach more than 35% of the nation’s homes.

1946

Dual Television Network Rule enacted, prohibiting a major network from buying another major network.

1964

Local TV Multiple Ownership Rule enacted, prohibiting a broadcaster from owning more than one television station in the same market, unless there are at least eight stations in the market.

1981     [Reagan Presidency]

Reagan Administration deregulation under the leadership of FCC Chairman Mark Fowler. Deregulatory moves, some made by Congress, others by the FCC included extending television licenses to five years from three in 1981. The number of television stations any single entity could own grew from seven in 1981 to 12 in 1985.

1985     [Reagan Presidency]

Guidelines for minimal amounts of non-entertainment programming are abolished. FCC guidelines on how much advertising can be carried per hour are eliminated.

1987     [Reagan Presidency]

“Fairness Doctrine” eliminated. At its founding the FCC viewed the stations to which it granted licenses as “public trustee” – and required that they made every reasonable attempt to cover contrasting points of views.

1996     [Clinton Presidency]

President Clinton signs the Telecommunications Act of 1996. It is generally regarded as the most important legislation regulating media ownership in over a decade. The radio industry experiences unprecedented consolidation after the 40-station ownership cap is lifted.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politic…

——————-

The result?

Top Telecommunications, Media and Technology Companies



http://www.openairwaves.org/te…

——————-

Does Clinton regret the Media Merger Mania he unleashed?

It’s not clear:

Bill Clinton’s Take On Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal

8/6/2007

The Fallout From the Telecommunications Act of 1996

  * Lifted the limit on how many radio stations one company could own. The cap had been set at 40 stations. It made possible the creation of radio giants like Clear Channel, with more than 1,200 stations, and led to a substantial drop in the number of minority station owners, homogenization of play lists, and less local news.

  * Lifted from 12 the number of local TV stations any one corporation could own, and expanded the limit on audience reach. One company had been allowed to own stations that reached up to a quarter of U.S. TV households. The Act raised that national cap to 35 percent. These changes spurred huge media mergers and greatly increased media concentration. Together, just five companies – Viacom, the parent of CBS, Disney, owner of ABC, News Corp, NBC and AOL, owner of Time Warner, now control 75 percent of all prime-time viewing.

  * The Act gave broadcasters, for free, valuable digital TV licenses that could have brought in up to $70 billion to the federal treasury if they had been auctioned off. Broadcasters, who claimed they deserved these free licenses because they serve the public, have largely ignored their public interest obligations, failing to provide substantive local news and public affairs reporting and coverage of congressional, local and state elections.

  * The Act reduced broadcasters’ accountability to the public by extending the term of a broadcast license from five to eight years, and made it more difficult for citizens to challenge those license renewals.

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP…

——————-

The result?

Who owns the Media?



http://www.freepress.net/owner…

——————-

One Candidate has spoken out against this senseless consolidation of the Free Press — that Candidate is John Edwards

8/6/2007


John Edwards:

It’s time for all Democrats, including those running for president, to stand up and speak out against this [News Corp.-Dow Jones] merger and other forms of media consolidation.”

So far, Edwards is the only candidate to address this issue, and he deserves enormous credit for exhibiting such courage. The media is a potentially devastating enemy – just ask Howard Dean. However, Hillary Clinton has the greatest moral obligation to take a stand given what her husband saddled us with.

http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP…

—-

And Edwards has paid the Price for telling the Truth to the American People!

The price tag:  being “Virtually Ignored” by the Media, and even being dropped from Candidate Polls, based on the arbitrary decisions of corporate Media Executives, and little else:



http://www.johnedwards.com/whe…

——-

Survey USA Drops Edwards Based on “Judgment”

by sarahlane – Jan 17, 2008

Unbelievable! CNN narrows the Field of Candidates!

by jamess – Jan 13, 2008

What is Edwards saying that they find so disturbing?

Edwards Comes Out Strongly Against Media Consolidation

Aug 2, 2007

Challenges Democratic presidential candidates to cut off contributions from News Corp Executives

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards spoke out strongly against media consolidation which threatens the health of our democracy, by calling on Democrats to openly oppose and take the necessary steps to stop the merger between News Corp and the Dow Jones Company/The Wall Street Journal. Edwards called on Democrats to oppose the merger in light of the biased and unfair manner Fox News, and other media arms of News Corp, cover Democrats and the Democratic Party.

News Corp’s purchase of the Dow Jones Co. and The Wall Street Journal should be the last straw when it comes to media consolidation. The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media – all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp. The reality is that Americans deserve more news outlets – not fewer. It’s time for all Democrats, including those running for president, to stand up and speak out against this merger and other forms of media consolidation.

http://www.johnedwards.com/new…

Al Gore, another Progressive Statesman, has also spoken out just as urgently against this “wild west” atmosphere for evermore Media Consolidation:

Gore Lashes Out at Media Consolidation

by Jill Lawless

August 28, 2006


“Democracy is under attack,” Gore told an audience at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. “Democracy as a system for self-governance is facing more serious challenges now than it has faced for a long time.

Democracy is a conversation, and the most important role of the media is to facilitate that conversation of democracy. Now the conversation is more controlled, it is more centralized.”

In the United States “the only thing that matters in American politics now is having enough money to put 30-second commercials on the air often enough to convince the voters to elect you or re-elect you,” he said. “The person who has the most money to run the most ads usually wins.”

http://www.commondreams.org/he…

—-

Where do the other Candidates stand on the FCC, Media Consolidation, and the Fairness Doctrine?

It would be nice to know!

(The Fairness Doctrine, by the way, pre-Reagan era, used to require ALL qualified Candidates, get Equal Air time from the broadcasters, in exchange for their very lucrative broadcasting licenses.)

Edwards has the guts to take a Stand and speak out, like Al Gore did

do they?

John Edwards pickets at NBC – WGA



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:

“One of the things we have a problem with in America is the conglomeration and consolidation of the Media.

We need to make sure that diverse voices are being heard, and we don’t have that kind of consolidation because that’s a big part of the problem.”

If the Trends set in motion by Ronald Reagan, and continued by Bill Clinton, are allowed to proceed unchecked as they have for 2 decades, this is the likely Future we will face

Instead of the “Big Six” Media Conglomerates —

we’ll end up with  the “Titanic Two”

Fox and MSNBC!  (and just wait til they merge)

If you think the Media stinks now —

just stay tuned …

and now a word from those Sponsors,

those VERY Special Interests down at www.MediaLobbyists.Inc

underwritten and enabled by “Business as Usual” politicians, SPONSORS!

Make News, Make History

Make the Media listen to the “Voice of the People”

The people of this Country are speaking up

for the Candidate that the Media “loves to ignore”

John Edwards !

And how are they speaking up?

In the one language the corporate Media understands

MONEY!

You too can add you voice to this grassroots campaign:

Send in 10 or 20 bucks. TODAY!  (01-18-2008)

Ron Paul’s supporters made National News,

by rallying Millions in donations on one day,

and so can Edwards supporters!

Will you stand up for Democracy?

(If you don’t — who will?)



[click the image – to speak out]

Learn more

Today’s The Day John Edwards Grabs The Gold

by KingOneEye  

Fri Jan 18, 2008

Will you stand up for Democracy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

Edwards on the Issues

http://johnedwards.com/issues/

—-

Meet John EdwardsSelected Clips:

http://www.youtube.com/profile…

—-

It’s time to Take OUR Country Back!

=========================

Edwards is Active for us — including the Golden State, too!

John Edwards pickets at NBC – WGA



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:

We’re with you!

We’re with you!

yeah man, yeah.

It’s a great privilege for me to be here, with all of you today.

To walk with you.

To walk your line with you!

To stand with you!

[cheers]

Because what you represent,

and what you’re standing for

is to make sure that everybody in America

gets a fair chance!

We must strengthen and grow

the Union Movement in America.

[cheers]

We have to strengthen and grow through organizing,

through reaching out, through bring workers,

from all across this country into the Organized Labor movement.

It is the only way that we will insure that

these big corporate conglomerates

Don’t take over the United States of America!

[cheers]

So I’m proud to be with you in this march.

I’m proud to be with you in this Fight for Justice.

I’m proud to be with you in this Fight for Fairness.

And I want to say one last thing about it:

I WILL be with you every single DAY,

when I am President of the United States of America!

God Bless you!

“One of the things we have a problem with in America is the conglomeration and consolidation of the Media.

We need to make sure that diverse voices are being heard, and we don’t have that kind of consolidation because that’s a big part of the problem.”

Unbelievable! CNN narrows the Field of Candidates!

Once again in the Corporate Media makes an “Executive Decision”, about who America should see as their Viable Choices:

Hillary Clinton

Barack Obama

John McCain

Rudy Giuliani

Mike Huckabee

Mitt Romney

Only these Candidates were the Focus of the latest CNN Poll

Where is John Edwards in this Poll?

(for that matter where is Ron Paul?)

[Edwards has done better than Giuliani, by a long shot!]

So much for Free Speech! So much for the Democratic Process playing itself out! So much for letting the People decide.

The Media Executives apparently feel it’s their Constitutional Right to narrow down your choices for you — They Know What’s best for us!

(Or is it really they know what’s best for them?)

New Poll results from that COM (Corporate Owned Media) with the “best political team on Television”:


CNN Opinion Poll

Interviews with 1,033 adult Americans conducted by telephone by Opinion Research Corporation on January 9-10, 2008. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

FOR RELEASE: SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 AT 2 PM

Here is a typical Question from this Poll, using their “filtered” version of reality:

11. For each of the following candidates, please tell me whether you will definitely vote for that person in November if they won their party’s nomination, whether you might consider voting for that person, or whether you will definitely not vote for that person in November. (RANDOM ORDER)

Definitely For | Consider Voting for | Definitely Not Vote for | No Opinion

Hillary Clinton 37% 19% 43% *

Barack Obama 30% 32% 38% *

John McCain 22% 35% 43% *

Rudy Giuliani 19% 25% 55% *

Mike Huckabee 15% 31% 52% 1%

Mitt Romney 13% 25% 62% 1%

A search of this entire Poll, shows Edwards Name is NOT mentioned anywhere! … (apparently he “was abducted by Aliens”!)

Did Edwards quit Running?

Did Edwards do worse than Giuliani or Romney?

What gives CNN the Right to Censor Edwards from this Opinion Poll?

(An Opinion Poll that the Media Bobble-heads, will no doubt repeat at nauseum for the next week, too.)

Could it be that CNN did not quite like the Results, when Edwards was included in their last Poll?





CNN poll: Edwards DESTROYS GOP candidates
(with graphs!)

by BruinKid – Thu Dec 13, 2007

Maybe CNN was worried about another strong showing by Edwards, if he was included in their Jan. Poll?

This is simply Outrageous!

No matter which Candidate you support, the Media should not be empowered to make arbitrary decisions like this!

In my opinion, if John Edwards received half the coverage that Obama and Clinton have, the results of those 1st two elections would have been very different.



The corporate media blackout of John Edwards gets worse


by JedReport – Sat Jan 05, 2008

The Constitution vested the power to pick our Candidates with us — WE the People

And NOT Them the Corporate Media!

Where will this Media’s “streamlining of reality” end?

They sold us the Iraq War, with a smile and a cheer — what will they try to sell us next?

If you care about Free Speech and a free and open and fair Democratic ProcessPlease let CNN know how you feel:



[email protected]

while your at it give these other sponsors of the “powers that be” a piece of your mind too:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

It really is time to take OUR Country Back!

John Edwards is right: Enough is Enough!

thank you.

——— [some Fun Facts] ————-

Current Delegate Count

Obama 25

Clinton 24

Edwards 19

Kucinich 0

Romney 21

Huckabee 14

McCain 12

Thompson 8

Paul 4

Hunter 1

Giullani 1

http://mydd.com/

Looks like Corporate Media-Bias to me!

——————-

 

Edwards Evening News RoundUp: the Fight for America’s Middle Class!

Thanks for tuning in once again, hopeful Americans

And welcome to what John Edwards has called “the Fight for America’s Middle Class”.  This is a fight to reclaim a Voice in our Democratic process — to speak up for those people, who need a Champion, like you and me.

1st a Question:  Who is the Middle Class?


America is sometimes called a “middle-class country,” but nobody – not economists, sociologists, or the U.S. Census Bureau – seems to have a clear definition of who the middle class actually is. The notion of where a dividing line between “middle class” and “working class” might be is an elusive one …

a non-partisan and non-profit organization, reports that the middle class has conventionally come to mean families with incomes between $25,000 and $100,000 each year.

As NOW reported in “Middle Class Squeeze” (Dec 13, 2002), the shape of income distribution in America is changing and many are finding it increasingly difficult to afford housing while keeping up with necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and health care.

That was from

PBS – Now — 06-25-2004

Who is the Middle Class?

(not much has changed since Now’s 2004 study, has it?)

according to PBS’s Now, the Middle Class covered a wide range of incomes $25-100K, and is characterized by people

finding it increasingly difficult to afford housing while keeping up with necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, and health care.

That’s sounds like a pretty “Big Tent”!

John Edwards sees us struggling to make ends meet — and he is Fighting to give us Hope and Opportunity again!

It’s about time, someone did!

Please spend some time to join this very worthwhile Fight, too:

TheSlate

Edwards says he can come from behind to win home state of SC

By BRUCE SMITH – AP Writer

Jan. 12, 2008



Polls show the former U.S. senator from North Carolina trailing Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

“The same thing was true in 2004,” Edwards told reporters after meeting about 200 people at a diner in this upscale resort.

“When I was several weeks from the primary in 2004, I was in fourth place I believe and I wound up winning South Carolina by double digits,” he said.

South Carolina was Edwards’ only primary win four years ago. Edwards is on a four-day bus tour of this early voting state.

People just have to hear what I’ve got to say,” Edwards said. “It’s hard because the national media is focused on – and have been for many months now – focused on two candidates.

It’s very hard to get heard, but when I get heard, people respond.”

During his tour, Edwards has been traveling in a bus dubbed the Main Street Express with a sign on the side that reads, “Join the fight for America’s middle class.”

http://www.thestate.com/309/st…

—-

CBS – From The Road

Edwards Continues Courting South Carolina

Posted by Aaron Lewis

Jan 12, 2008



Edwards stood on a stool in the middle of the parking lot and gave a brief bullhorn speech to a crowd gathered around him.

“I’m here today to ask you to reach out to your friends, to reach out to your neighbors,” said Edwards. “I’m running against two candidates who have a hundred million dollars plus. My campaign is much more of a grassroots campaign, which means word of mouth, telephone calls, knocking on doors. It means doing the work that has to be done to get our people to the polls.”

I know the people of South Carolina and I know the struggles they’re going through.”

But they stood patiently with the rest of the crowd and seemed rather pleased once they scored a handshake.

As Edwards marched through the gauntlet of palms waiting for him throughout the restaurant, one gentleman audibly voiced his approval of Edwards’s attire.

He’s wearing a sports jacket with jeans,” he said. “You gotta respect that in a candidate!

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2…

—-

CBS – From The Road

Edwards Says He Has “Plenty of Money”

Posted by Aaron Lewis

Jan 11, 2008

“We have plenty of money to run a serious campaign,” said Edwards. “And I think more important than that, I don’t think voters are going to be controlled by money. We’re gonna have an election, not an auction. And they’re gonna actually focus on what it is we stand for, what we’re fighting for, and I feel very optimistic about what’ll happen.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2…

—-

CNN reports some more campaign news from the Trail:

Dan Lothian – CNN Boston Bureau

Jan 12, 2008

SUMMERVILLE, South Carolina (CNN) …

Edwards says no matter what happens here on January 26, he’s in the race for the long haul.

We have plenty of money to run a serious campaign, and I think more important than that, I don’t think voters are going to be controlled by money.”

Edwards said the election was aboutstanding up and fighting for the middle class,” to help lift people out of poverty and push for universal health care.

“The United States of America is better than this, and our parents and our grandparents struggled and sacrificed so that they can make this country what it is capable of doing,” Edwards said. “Now the question is: Will we rise up and show the same kind of grip and fight and strength and determination that they did? The answer is I believe we will.”

“It’s going to happen as we spread through these primaries, including right here in South Carolina,” he added. “I think you are going to stand up and say ‘yes.'”

Edwards’ message resonated with Darrell Clinton, who describes himself as a staunch Republican who’s now putting party politics aside to support Edwards.

He’s a good mainstream politician looking out for the little guys,” Clinton said. “So often the guys at the top are taken care of, the guys at the bottom are taken care of, but there’s a lot of people in the middle … hurting.”

Edwards was happy to get Clinton’s support.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI…

—-

I hope that last line, is a “good omen” of things to come. And Edwards’ natural appeal to cross-over Republicans in no small matter, if Democrats want to insure a landslide victory in 2008!  

Vote Smart, Dems.

The Edwards campaign is going into serious upsizing mode in Nevada too, where Union Support is sure to be a factor:

Political Leaders, Campaign Officials, Celebrities in Nevada for Geared Up Edwards Campaign on Final Weekend Before Caucus

Jan 11, 2008



The campaign will also be holding a statewide canvass with supporters from Nevada and across the region, including many union members who have been working with the campaign for months as part Edwards’ large bloc of labor support. Canvassers will spend Saturday and Sunday going door-to-door delivering targeted messages to Nevada caucus goers on the issues that concern them the most.

Former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid will be in Las Vegas to kick off the canvass on Saturday and then go door to door to talk about John Edwards’ plan to fight for working and middle class families. On Sunday night she will attend a house party with Edwards supporters and precinct captains.

Actress Madeline Stowe of “The Last of the Mohicans” and “Twelve Monkeys” will be in Las Vegas on Sunday to meet with voters and go door to do to discuss Edwards’ plans to build One America when everyone can work hard and build a better life. On Sunday night she will attend a house party with Edwards’ supporters and precinct captains. She will remain in Las Vegas for several days next week.

Edwards has strong grassroots support in Nevada due to his leadership on the issues, particularly health care, Iraq, working families and energy.

His organization was recently bolstered by staff from Iowa who came to Nevada following their work on Edwards’ strong second place showing over Hillary Clinton.

He has deep support from labor. The campaign has been working closely with the Carpenters, Steelworkers, Transport Workers and Communication Workers for months. Political leaders who support Edwards have been hard at work making phone calls and knocking on doors to spread his message of building One America.

Polls consistently show Edwards is the most electable Democratic against any of the top Republicans and is the only Democrat in the race to ever win in a “red” state .

http://www.johnedwards.com/new…

Some more on those Union workers — fighting for our Middle Class Issues:

NYTimes

Unions Pouring Resources Into Nevada Caucus Fight

Steven Greenhouse

Jan 13, 2008

But Mr. Obama’s union support in Nevada is formidable. Culinary Local 226 is the most politically powerful labor union in Nevada, and the unions backing Mrs. Clinton, as well as former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, are trying hard to counter its efforts. Union officials backing Mrs. Clinton note that many members of the culinary local are not American citizens and therefore cannot participate in the caucuses.

Chuck Rocha, the political director of the United Steelworkers, which backs Mr. Edwards, said his union had 42 paid workers in Nevada to mobilize its 3,500 members, including 900 Las Vegas cabdrivers.

We’re playing a dual role,” Mr. Rocha said. “We do member-to-member beginning at 7 a.m., going to factory entrances, for instance.

When their eight-hour workday is over by 2 or 3, we have this army of 40 people who become volunteers for the Edwards campaign, who have a bigger impact.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01…

—-

Even though PBS describes the Middle Class as the range of incomes $25-100K, struggling to meet everyday bills, all too often those trapped in the lower rungs of the pyramid, face challenges everyday that can make Life seem all but Hopeless!

Well, John Edwards (sounding more like RFK everyday) sees their plight, and has just responded with:

Plan To End Poverty In South Carolina Within A Generation

Jan 12, 2008

… today Edwards introduced his plan for “Ending Poverty in South Carolina Within a Generation,” which calls for major new policies for work, housing, education, debt and savings, and family responsibility.

Too many Americans are separated from the opportunities of our country,” Edwards said. …

In America, every child should be able to go as far as her God-given talents and hard work will take her,” said Edwards. “As the first in my family to go to college, I know that our system of public education should be our sturdiest ladder of opportunity. To build the better America we all believe in, we must find ways to make college more affordable. We’ve got to make sure that every qualified student has the opportunity to go to college and fulfill the American Dream.”

Ending Poverty within a Generation: Edwards called for a national goal of ending poverty within a generation by cutting poverty by one third within a decade and ending poverty within 30 years.

Rewarding Work: To create more opportunities for work and reward those efforts, Edwards will raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2012, helping the 33,000 South Carolinian workers who earn the minimum wage or less; cut taxes on low income workers; create 1 million Stepping Stone jobs; and strengthen workers’ rights.

Overhauling Housing Policy: Edwards will create 1 million new housing vouchers over five years to help low-income families move to better neighborhoods, invest in struggling neighborhoods, and promote state and local efforts to build affordable housing close to good jobs and schools.

Strengthening Schools and Making College Affordable: Edwards will create a universal system of Great Promise early childhood education centers; invest more in teacher pay and professional development; radically overall No Child Left Behind; create Second Chance schools to help high school dropouts; and pay the public college tuition of everyone willing to take a part time job through a new College for Everyone initiative.

Helping Families Save and Get Ahead: Edwards will subsidize bank accounts for the 28 million Americans without them; create new Work Bonds to help low-income workers build up savings accounts; and protect families against abusive financial products, including payday loans, predatory mortgages, and abusive credit card terms.

Supporting Responsible Families: Edwards will encourage and reward responsibility from fathers by helping them find work and requiring the help support their children and discourage teen pregnancy. He will also call on community leaders to recognize that there is only so much that the government can do, and we all share the responsibility of promoting strong families.

[Link goes into more details]

http://www.johnedwards.com/new…

—-

Lest other states, feel slighted, an Edwards Administration would have a similar plan for the Nation:

A National Goal: End Poverty Within 30 Years

Now to continue with another detailed look at John Edwards’ Plan to fix what’s wrong in America.

The Edwards team has given a lot of thought to these plans to help lift up the Middle Class. So we here in the Middle Class, who have daily challenges to ‘make ends meet’, should take the time to seriously consider this Repair Manual as well!

THE PLAN TO BUILD ONE AMERICA: BOLD SOLUTIONS FOR REAL CHANGE



[ click the image for your own copy. ]

Tonight’s Topic:

I. Standing Up for Working and Middle-Class Families

True Universal Health Care

“Mr. Edwards transformed the whole health care debate with a plan that offers a politically and fiscally plausible path to universal health insurance.”

– Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist


“Easily the most impressive health care reform proposal adopted by a national Democrat in 15 years.”

– Ezra Klein, The American Prospect

JOHN EDWARDS’ PLAN FOR TRUE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

[pgs 8-10]

Summary

Forty-seven million Americans without health care is a moral outrage. John Edwards was the first major presidential candidate to propose a detailed plan that takes on the big drug and insurance companies to guarantee quality, affordable care for every American.

The Edwards Health Care Plan

(1) Universal coverage through shared responsibility

(2) Affordable and higher quality health care

(3) New strategies for prescription drugs, long-term care, cancer, HIV/AIDS and nursing shortages

(1) Universal coverage through shared responsibility

— I. Outline of the Edwards Plan

A) Require by law that every American have comprehensive health coverage, including mental health coverage.

B) Require businesses to either cover their employees or help pay their premiums.

C) Make insurance affordable by creating new tax credits, expanding Medicaid and SCHIP, reforming insurance laws and taking innovative steps to contain health care costs.

D) Create new Health Care Markets to give families and businesses purchasing power and a choice of quality plans, including one public plan.

— II. Impact of the Edwards Plan

A) Families without insurance will get coverage at an affordable price.

B) Families with insurance will pay less and get more security and choices.

C) Employers will find it cheaper and easier to insure their workers.

D) The health care system could evolve into a singlepayer approach if Americans choose to enroll in the public plan instead of private insurance.

— III. Honesty about the Cost

A) We need to be honest about paying for universal health care. The Edwards plan costs $90-$120 billion a year. He will pay for it by repealing President Bush’s tax cuts for Americans who make over $200,000 a year and reforming health care to get better care at lower cost.

(2) Affordable and higher quality health care

Edwards’ cost-saving measures will save an average insured family $2,000 to $2,500 a year and eliminate at least $130 billion a year in wasteful spending.

—  I. Get Tough on Big Insurance and Drug Companies

A) Outlaw discrimination against people with preexisting conditions and require insurers to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care.

B) Make private insurers compete with a public plan available through the Health Care Markets.

C) Allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, regulate misleading drug ads and permit safe reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada.

—  II. A New Era in Preventive and Chronic Care

A) Edwards will require coverage of preventive care at little or no cost and ensure that providers monitor chronically ill patients’ health to reduce complications and hospitalizations.

—  III. Implement Information Technology

A) Edwards will require the use of electronic medical records to reduce duplicative tests and medical errors while protecting patients’ privacy.

—  IV. Evidence-Based Medicine

A) Edwards will create an objective source of reliable medical information to help doctors give the best care and a “Consumer Reports” for health care for patients.

(3) New strategies for prescription drugs, long-term care, cancer, HIV/AIDS and nursing shortages

—  I. Choice and Dignity in Long-Term Care

A) Edwards will reform the long-term care system to create choices for older Americans and people with disabilities, provide home and community care and promote dignity for families and workers.

—  II. A National Strategy for Cancer Survivorship

A) Ensure that Americans with cancer are diagnosed earlier and receive coordinated care, and strengthen family support networks.

B) Double funding for research priorities, reduce risk factors and close racial and ethnic disparities.

—  III. End the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

A) Guarantee care for HIV-positive individuals through Medicaid before the disease advances.

B) Prevent HIV/AIDS with science-based steps and fight it in the African-American and Latino, as well as LGBT, communities.

—  IV. Address the Nursing Shortage

A) Graduate 50,000 new nurses by investing in nursing schools and scholarships.

B) Bring back and retain 50,000 existing nurses with new safety standards, safe staffing ratios and a banon mandatory overtime.

True Universal Health Care

“We have to stop using words like ‘access to health care’ when we know those words mean something less than universal care. Who are you willing to leave behind without care? Which family? Which child? We need a truly universal solution, and we need it now.

“I don’t believe you can sit down at a table with lobbyists for drug companies and insurance companies and negotiate your way to universal care. They are dead-set against this. It’s going to take a president who can take them on and beat them. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life.”

– John Edwards, Candidate for the Democratic Nomination

Sounds like a plan with its main goal of improving the Quality of Life, for the rest of us.

Join this “Fight for America’s Middle Class” — it CAN Happen!

Well Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found something of interest to read.

As long as John Edwards is willing to listen to our issues, us ‘Working Folks’, shouldn’t we be willing to to Work with him, to help get OUR Message out?

This will ultimately be an Election, which ultimately the People will Decide …

Wouldn’t it be nice, if they had enough information, to actually make an informed Decision?

That truly would be a victory for Free Speech.

Big Business puts John Edwards on Notice

Let this serve as a warning to Edwards, and any other Candidate that would DARE to put the issues of “Economic Populism” back on the National Agenda:

LA Times – Jan 07, 2008

Chamber targets anti-business candidates

With the nation’s economy increasingly becoming a volatile issue in the presidential campaign, the president of the United States Chamber of Commerce is about to issue one very tough promise to spend millions of dollars against candidates deemed to be anti-business. (Are you listening John Edwards?)

It seems if you dare to tell the Truth about the wholesale “sell off” of hopes and aspirations the American Middle Class — well the “powers that be” just might get a little UPSET with you …

But will that shut Edwards up about it? … I hope not!

Sunlight afterall, is the best disinfectant!

(not capitulation and compromise)

The US Chamber of Commerce, why do they care about what Edwards is saying?

Could it be that some alarm bells went off, as Edwards keeps calling out Lobbyists before a National Audience?

John Edwards:

No corporate lobbyists or anyone who has lobbied for a foreign government will work in my White House. We will not replace corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats. I hear people argue that the way that you can get things done is to sit at a table with drug companies, insurance companies, oil companies, and negotiate with them and somehow they will voluntarily give away their power. I think this is a complete fantasy.”

And then the nerve — to raise the issue again on a Sunday Talk show! What was Edwards thinking?

John Edwards: This Week with George Stephanopoulos

1-5-2008



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards: The real question is What is Day One in the White House going to look like? “Day One, in my White House there will be NO Corporate Lobbyists, Nobody who Lobbied for Foreign Governments.”

“Yes. There will be NO Lobbyists who have worked for Trial Lawyers, NO Lobbyists who have worked for Big Corporations in my White House — Period!”

I don’t think the Lobbyists are doing America any good! I think what they’re doing is, they’re standing up against working Middle Class families. And the Middle Class is struggling, and at risk as a result.”

Straight talk like that — really upsets those shadowy sales-rep-types, who have more of a say in Congress, than YOU DO!

Even though the US Chamber of Commerce’s logo shows “the people” they supposedly represent, their “behind the scenes” activities show the Chamber actually works very hard for some slightly more “influential interests”.

Think this is an exaggeration? Reuters in the UK, has just announced, that Big Business is the “most afraid” of John Edwards to really change things:

Reuters U.K. Jan 11 2008

U.S. corporate elite fear candidate Edwards

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same — Democrat John Edwards.

His stump speeches are peppered with attacks on “corporate greed” and warnings of “the destruction of the middle class.”

He accuses lobbyists of “corrupting the government” and says Americans lack universal health care because of “drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists.”

An Edwards campaign spokesman said on Thursday that inside-the-Beltway operatives who fight to defend the powerful and the privileged should be afraid.

“The lobbyists and special interests who abuse the system in Washington have good reason to fear John Edwards.

Once he is president, the interests of middle class families will never again take a back seat to corporate greed in Washington,” said campaign spokesman Eric Schultz.

Open attacks on the business elite are seldom heard from mainstream White House candidates in America, despite skyrocketing CEO pay, rising income inequality, and a torrent of scandals in corporate boardrooms and on Wall Street.

Another lobbyist said an Edwards presidency would be “a disaster” for his well-heeled industrialist clients.

BUSINESS’S FAVORITE UNCLEAR

Asked which candidate their clients most support, corporate lobbyists were unsure. Clinton has cautious backing within the corporate jet set, as do Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and former Republican Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, they said.

These candidates represent stability to executives who have much to lose if November’s election brings about the sweeping change some candidates are promising.

“My sense is that Obama would govern as a reasonably pragmatic Democrat … I think Hillary is approachable. She knows where a lot of her funding has come from, to be blunt,” said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Stanford Group Co., a market and policy analysis group.

But Edwards, Valliere said, is seen as “an anti-business populist” and “a trade protectionist who is quite unabashed about raising taxes.”

“I think his regulatory policies, as well as his tax policies, would be viewed as a threat to business,” he said.

This is what the Corporate Elite is SO nervous about:

Edwards’ Smarter Trade That Puts Workers First

http://www.johnedwards.com/iss…

The Edwards Tax Plan: Reward Work — Not Wealth

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

Edwards: will represent the People, against the Lobbyists

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

So American People beware!

You can Pick your Candidate, only so long as ‘they don’t upset the apple cart’. Anyone that dares to really challenge Corporations for Economic Fairness, will face the wrath of the Media Pundits and Programming Directors! (and the US Dept of Commerce too, apparently.)

Silly People, thinking we actually run our Government. That ship has sailed, starting with Reagan’s Deregulation, and Supply-Side give-aways to business, and it’s been going down hill ever since. (Anyone remember NAFTA and CAFTA?)

Despite the angst of the super rich, to keep hording and acquiring more Wealth, our country has done fine in the past when Tax Rates were much higher for business and the power-elite.

Historically, Marginal Tax Rates have been much higher than we have now:  (Even rolling back to the Reagan Tax rates of the 1980’s is hardly extreme, given historical Tax rates.)



Even when we had these greater levels of Tax Responsibility for the very wealthy in eras past, that did NOT cause the U.S. Economy to nosedive in those years. Just the contrary actually, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continued to grow in those periods, in large part I suspect, due to the hard working nature of the American People:

Edwards just wants Corporations to be Good Citizens, and to pay their fair share, to support this Country of ours:

The Corporate Section of the chart (Rose Color) could really stand to be a little wider, now couldn’t it?

That Reuters article cited a lobbyist who said:

an Edwards presidency would be “a disaster” for his well-heeled industrialist clients.



So what is exactly “the disaster” for those industrialists?

Perhaps making 300 to 400 x more than average worker is NOT enough to maintain their “upper crust” lifestyle? Or perhaps “corporate greed” has little patience for the petty problems of working people, as we drift ever further into debt and despair?

Ever since the Regan era, American Workers started going downhill … and we have rarely looked back. And our Leaders have rarely tried to correct that course of those who toil their lives away, in the trenches:

Distribution of Wealth Trends in the US



http://www.bluehampshire.com/s…

Most of those Trend lines by the way, are headed in the WRONG Direction for 95% of us!

Of course those Corporate Execs and their Lobbyists are ‘pleased as punch’, since their Wealth Trends are skyrocketing upwards, in that top 5% tier.

This is what Edwards is talking about when he says we must fight for Economic Fairness, and against the greed of the top 1%. Of course much of that Business elite often have a totally different Agenda — so different in fact, that they have put Edwards on their “must watch” list (and on the Media Blackout List too).

This Wealth Gap is Real. And has recently been confirmed by respected University of Michigan researchers:



Wealth Gap Is Increasing, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Aug. 9, 2007) – The rich really are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, a new University of Michigan study shows.

The study—the most recent available analysis of long-term wealth trends among U.S. households—is based on data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) since 1968.

Over the last 20 years, the net worth of

the top two percentile of American families nearly doubled
, from $1,071,000 in 1984 to $2,100,500 in 2005.

But the poorest quarter of American families lost ground

over the same period, with their 2005 net worth

below their 1984 net worth,

measured in constant 2005 dollars.

The poorest ten percent of families actually had a negative net worth—more liabilities than assets.

The researchers also examined net worth dynamics across different age groups and educational levels. They found that the median household net worth of people in their 20s declined by nearly 30 percent, while the net worth of households headed by people in their 30s also fell slightly. The findings provide support for the widespread sense that it is harder than it used to be for younger people to establish themselves financially.

Those Divergent Wealth Trends are Real. And so is the daily pain for the Majority of us left behind, on all those downward tracks! As Edwards has been saying those corporate interests are literally stealing our children’s future!

John Edwards on Taking on Entrenched Special Interests



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards

.. these entrenched interests — whether you’re talking about oil companies, drug companies, gas companies, whoever — these entrenched interests are literally stealing our children’s future. They have a stranglehold on this democracy and they are having an incredibly destructive force on the middle class, on families …

That is no exaggeration! It’s just life in modern day America, where Issue-based Reporting has been tossed aside, as another extravagance, that our Corporate Media cheerleaders, seemingly has no use, nor time for!

I can sort of understand the Media and Lobbyists trying to keep Edwards quiet — Greed being what it is! Afterall they have that ‘Home in the Hamptons’ to protect, and all those stock options to cash in someday.

But when fellow progressive Democrats join the rabble to censor Free Speech, and the Democratic process — there is really NO Excuse! A diversity of ideas is a Good thing for Democracy.  We already have WAY TOO Much filtering out of the Voices of average Americans, from the traditional Media.

As Democrats, we should embrace Free Speech, which includes the rights of Citizens in each State, to cast their Votes!

Last time I checked we were having an Election —

NOT a Coronation!

NOT a President by Media-Fiat!

But an old-fashion, Let the People Decide Election!

So stand back and let the People Speak!

Whether it upsets Big Business, or not.

Please.

They’re the Problem, they’re NOT the Solution!

Nope, you can’t buy an Election, why …

Cuz … Money Don’t Vote



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-



Yes, for a few more years at least,


The People still do …  (vote that is)

John Edwards at LiveStrong on Corporate Lobbyists

August 2007 (moderator Chris Matthews)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:

If you could do it, by compromise and negotiation —

Then WHY don’t we have Universal Health Care today?

John Edwards – Just Say No to Lobbyists



October 2007



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:

The reason we don’t have Universal Health Care today is because of Drug Companies, Insurance Companies and their Lobbyists, in Washington. They stand between you and the Health Care that you need.

We have to take this system on, we have to change it. We have to be willing to be honest about it.

You have to say NO to these People!

You have to say as President I represent the American People!

That’s the only way we’ll get the Change that we need in this Country.

John Edwards on Taking on Entrenched Special Interests

1-5-2008 NH Debate



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:

I want to say a quick word about this. You know, it is true that these entrenched interests — whether you’re talking about oil companies, drug companies, gas companies, whoever — these entrenched interests are literally stealing our children’s future. They have a stranglehold on this democracy and they are having an incredibly destructive force on the middle class, on families being able to do what my family has done and so many who are sitting here have been able to do.

And the problem is you can’t be with those people, take their money and then challenge them. It doesn’t work. You have to be willing to actually stand up and say no — no to lobbyist money, no to PAC money, no corporate lobbyists working for me in the White House. If you intend to take them on, and if it is personal for you — and this is extraordinarily personal for me — if it’s personal for you, then you can be successful bringing about the change.

Teddy Roosevelt — just one quick example — Teddy Roosevelt — Teddy Roosevelt, a great American president — he didn’t make deals with the monopolies and the trusts. Teddy Roosevelt took them on, busted the monopolies, busted the trusts. That’s what it’s going to take.

We have a battle in front of us. We do. I don’t think we have a problem with politicians in Washington spending enough time with lobbyists and going to cocktail parties. They do it all the time. They do it every single day, and I’ll tell you who’s paying the price for those cocktail parties: Natalie Sarkisian, every single American who doesn’t have health care coverage, everybody who’s going to the gas pump and paying so much money for their gas. When are we going to have a president who actually takes these people on? That’s what I’m going to do.

John Edwards: “Enough is enough”

1-5-2008 NH Debate



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards:


What you see happening in America today, if you’re president of the United States and you’re looking at this from altitude is you see a very few Americans getting wealthier and wealthier, you see the biggest corporations in America’s profits through the roof — ExxonMobil just made $40 billion, record profits — all of that happening at the same time that we have 47 million people with no health care, 37 million who will wake up in this country tomorrow worried about feeding and clothing their children. Tonight, 200,000 men and women who wore the uniform of the United States of America and served this country honorably will go to sleep under bridges and on grates.

It’s time for us to say and it’s time for the president to say enough is enough. This is a battle for the future of our children. This is a battle for the middle class.

Let’s take jobs, which we haven’t talked about. We’ve touched on a lot of other things, but we haven’t talked about jobs. We’ve had a trade and tax policy that is bleeding American jobs, and all it has done is pad the profits of the biggest multinational corporations in America. You talk about professors here at this college.

I saw a projection just a week or so ago suggesting that America could lose as many as 20 (million) to 30 million more jobs over the next decade. Think about that for a minute, 30 million. And who’s the most at-risk group? College graduates. This is not just people who are working in mills and working in factories — who have been devastated by this, completely devastated — these are middle-class families, these are college graduates and their jobs at risk.

“We need a different Tax Policy, a different Trade Policy,

where the first question, and this is what I WILL ask

when I’m President of the United States:

‘Is this Trade Proposal, Is this Tax Proposal,

IS it good for working Middle Class Americans?’

That’s the Question!”

John Edwards: This Week with George Stephanopoulos

1-5-2008



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards: The real question is What is Day One in the White House going to look like? “Day One, in my White House there will be NO Corporate Lobbyists, Nobody who Lobbied for Foreign Governments.”

“Yes. There will be NO Lobbyists who have worked for Trial Lawyers, NO Lobbyists who have worked for Big Corporations in my White House — Period!”

“I don’t think the Lobbyists are doing America any good! I think what they’re doing is, they’re standing up against working Middle Class families. And the Middle Class is struggling, and at risk as a result.”

This is the reason George, that the Voters here in NH, and all the future States, need an ‘unfiltered Debate’ between the two of us, about who can best bring about change.

George Stephanopoulos: You want a 2-person race?

John Edwards: I want a debate with — Listen I like Senator Obama very much. We do have a basic general view that is very similar. But I have a very view than he does, about how we bring about Change. I think we have an ‘epic fight’ on our hands, against these entrenched monied interests. And I think we’ll never be successful —

George Stephanopoulos: He led the fight for Lobbying Reform in the Senate, he says.

John Edwards: But he talks about this in a that suggests, you sit at a table and negotiate, with Drug Company Lobbyists, Insurance Company Lobbyists, and Oil Company Lobbyists, and you can somehow negotiate — they’ll negotiate their power away. That’s a fantasy, in my judgment! I don’t think it will ever happen!  I’ve been these people my entire life. First for 20 years in court rooms. And then I did it in public life.

What I am saying is these people have a disproportionate influence on the way the Government works, and they are stopping Progress. And let me be specific, we’re talking about this too generically:

Drug Companies and Insurance Companies have killed Health Care Reform in America.

Oil Companies have kept us from protecting the Environment, by attacking Global Warming.

The biggest multi-national corporations have set up, a set of Trade Systems and a set of Tax Laws that benefit them and profit them, but the Middle Class and working people are struggling as the result.

That is Wrong! I want to be the President that fights for the Middle Class, fights for working people, the kind of people I grew up with, George. I said this last night. This not abstract, or academic for me — it is PERSONAL! I see these people, going to these cocktail parties, having their receptions. You’ve been there George, you know how it works!

I mentioned this last night, this young woman who lost her life Nataline Sarkisyan, just a few week ago. Because her insurance company, one of the largest in America would not pay for a liver transplant operation — even though she HAD insurance. They would NOT pay for it! And People say to me, as their President, they want me to sit at a table and negotiate with these people?

I mean, they’re the PROBLEM, they’re NOT the SOLUTION!

And my job is to stand up for the American People against them!

This Cause, of fighting for people like Nataline Sarkisyan, fighting for people like my own family, and for the Middle Class, and giving them a decent life. And making sure their kids have a better life — which is what this is ultimately about — this is ‘the Cause of my Life’!

And I have NO Intention of stopping!

I am in this, through the Convention — and to the White House.



George Stephanopoulos: through the Convention?

John Edwards: Absolutely!

… I am in this through the Convention — and to the White House.

SO … Who is Standing up for you and your family, and your Future?

Who is looking for just another way, that we can “all just get along” …

I’m sorry, “Playing Nice” just does NOT work, anymore!

That Ship has sailed!

Look what happens when you work hard and “play by the rules”hard-working Americans “get played for fools”!

Distribution of Wealth Trends in the US



http://www.bluehampshire.com/s…

—-

http://afferentinput.blogspot….

—-

[Each Quintile represents 20% of the Population, vs the break-even Zero-line.]

Well, advocates of Free Trade like to say: “there are Winners and there are Losers”

It’s just there are a heck of lot more of us

on the Downward sloping Trend AWAY from Progress and a Better Life —


Than there are those who actually moving TOWARDS IT!

(that is, about 95% have “been played”, if you look at the Game going on!)

John Edwards IS Right:  “Enough is enough!”

This Game Must End!

Can American really continue to “play nice” with those Entrenched Interests, and their paid Lobbyists, that are part of the PROBLEM?

Do you trust them to “play fair” so that we can all get along, and arrive at a SOLUTION?

IF you think that, well, DO I have a Bridge in Minnesota, I want to sell you!

Free Trade vs Smart Trade, Edwards takes on the Supply-Siders

Since the days of Reagan, America has been chasing a Theory.

Since the Clinton era, and the rise of NAFTA and Global Free Trade, our “Corporate Leaders” have been conducting an unprecedented Social Experiment.

The Experiment: Economic Darwinism

The Test Subjects in this Experiment: none other than American Workers and our “more competitive” counterparts, overseas.

Supply-siders have argued that Economic Growth comes from empowering Corporate Interests to become “More Productive”, by whatever means necessary. Be it “Tax-Give-aways to the Wealthy”, or “Job-Give-aways to Poor Foreigners”, well that’s just fine with them, long is it results in Corporate Growth.

Supply-siders are happy to trade away American Dignity for the sake of short-term Profits: “American Workers just need some retraining. They just need to apply themselves.”

We just need to learn to Adapt”(to Global Markets?)

That’s the Theory, that’s the Spin.  What are the Results of this on-going plan to outsource the American Dream?

So what is Supply Side Economics, and how did these Theorists manage to trump the classical Keynesian school of thought?  (John Maynard Keynes Theories ushered in the Middle Class Boom of the last century, by the way.)

Investopedia Says

Supply-side theorists advocate income tax reduction because it increases private investment in corporations, facilities, and equipment



Understanding Supply-Side Economics


by David Harper, CFA

Supply-side economics is better known to some as “Reaganomics”, or the “trickle-down” policy espoused by former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He popularized the controversial idea that greater tax cuts for investors and entrepreneurs provides incentives to save and invest and produce economic benefits that trickle down into the overall economy. In this article, we summarize the basic theory behind supply-side economics.

The Argument That Supply Creates Its Own Demand

In economics we review the supply and demand curves. The left-hand chart below illustrates a simplified macroeconomic equilibrium: aggregate demand and aggregate supply intersect to determine overall output and price levels. (In this example, output may be gross domestic product and the price level may be the Consumer Price Index.) The right-hand chart illustrates the supply-side premise: an increase in supply (i.e. production of goods and services) will increase output and lower prices.

Supply-side actually goes further and claims that demand is largely irrelevant. It says that over-production and under-production are not really sustainable phenomena. Supply-siders argue that when companies temporarily “over-produce”, excess inventory will be created, prices will subsequently fall and consumers will increase their purchases to offset the excess supply





Conclusion


Supply-side economics has a colorful history. Some economists view supply-side as a half-baked economic theory – economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman even called its founders “cranks” in a book dedicated to attacking the theory (“Peddling Prosperity”)…

Indeed Paul Krugman had some very interesting things to say about Global Trade and Outsourcing today. The USA has just passed a new threshold on imports:

NY Times

Trouble With Trade

Dec 28, 2007

By PAUL KRUGMAN



But recently we crossed an important watershed: we now import more manufactured goods from the third world than from other advanced economies. That is, a majority of our industrial trade is now with countries that are much poorer than we are and that pay their workers much lower wages.

Let’s talk for a moment about the economics.

Trade between high-wage countries tends to be a modest win for all, or almost all, concerned. When a free-trade pact made it possible to integrate the U.S. and Canadian auto industries in the 1960s, each country’s industry concentrated on producing a narrower range of products at larger scale. The result was an all-round, broadly shared rise in productivity and wages.

By contrast, trade between countries at very different levels of economic development tends to create large classes of losers as well as winners.

Although the outsourcing of some high-tech jobs to India has made headlines, on balance, highly educated workers in the United States benefit from higher wages and expanded job opportunities because of trade. For example, ThinkPad notebook computers are now made by a Chinese company, Lenovo, but a lot of Lenovo’s research and development is conducted in North Carolina.

But workers with less formal education either see their jobs shipped overseas or find their wages driven down by the ripple effect as other workers with similar qualifications crowd into their industries and look for employment to replace the jobs they lost to foreign competition. And lower prices at Wal-Mart aren’t sufficient compensation.

The trouble now is that these effects may no longer be as modest as they were, because imports of manufactured goods from the third world have grown dramaticallyfrom just 2.5 percent of G.D.P. in 1990 to 6 percent in 2006.

And the biggest growth in imports has come from countries with very low wages. The original “newly industrializing economies” exporting manufactured goods – South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore – paid wages that were about 25 percent of U.S. levels in 1990. Since then, however, the sources of our imports have shifted to Mexico, where wages are only 11 percent of the U.S. level, and China, where they’re only about 3 percent or 4 percent.

The highly educated workers who clearly benefit from growing trade with third-world economies are a minority, greatly outnumbered by those who probably lose.

As I said, I’m not a protectionist. For the sake of the world as a whole, I hope that we respond to the trouble with trade not by shutting trade down, but by doing things like strengthening the social safety net. But those who are worried about trade have a point, and deserve some respect.

Krugman seems worried about the effect of NAFTA, and the continuing trend for more Outsourcing. And Krugman seems to be advocating the same kind of Social Safety Net and Worker Dignity, that John Edwards has been calling for too. In short, Smart Trade and Fair Trade (high wage for high wage) seem to be among this progressive thinker’s priorities too.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked a very straight-forward Question at a recent Presidential Candidate Debate:

Wolf Blitzer: Ross Perot was fiercely against NAFTA, knowing what we know now, was Ross Perot right?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

Good Question! Why aren’t more people asking this?

The Results of this decade-long NAFTA Experiment, has been much MORE painful than one would expect for such a well-reasoned Intellectual Exercise.

There were about a Million Reasons, Why this Free Trade Give-Away failed Ordinary Americans! (It seems that having workers “Learn to Adapt” sounds great on paper — but in the real world –NOT so much!)

Another Good Question is ‘Why isn’t anyone in the Media trying to seriously answer Wolf Blitzer’s Question?’

Well David Sirota HAS tried to answer it:



Was Ross Perot Right?

David Sirota

In 1993, the Clinton White House and an army of corporate lobbyists were selling NAFTA as a way to aid Mexican and American workers.

Perot, on the other hand, was predicting that because the deal included no basic labor standards, it would preserve a huge “wage differential between the United States and Mexico” that would result in “the giant sucking sound” of American jobs heading south of the border. Corporations, he said, would “close the factories in the U.S. [and] move the factories to Mexico [to] take advantage of the cheap labor.

The historical record is clear. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace reports, “Real wages for most Mexicans today are lower than when NAFTA took effect.” Post-NAFTA, companies looking to exploit those low wages relocated factories to Mexico. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the net effect of NAFTA was the elimination of 1 million American jobs.

Well according to Carnegie, it looks like NAFTA was a Lose-Lose deal for BOTH the High-Wage Workers of America, and the Low-Wage Workers of Mexico!

So much for Supply-side Global Competition, raising ALL Boats! (which was one of Reagan’s favorite lines, by the way)

John Edwards is just NOT Talking about “raising all boats” — he’s providing the Smart Plans that will ACTUALLY help the “Middle Class Rise” and restore Dignity for ALL Workers.

“Smart Trade” policy makes use of our greatest assets, our Intelligence and our Innovation. (These have always been the keys to real Adaptive Changes in eras past!)

Smarter Trade that Puts Workers First

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by John Edwards

Cedar Rapids, Iowa



Let me tell you, if a CEO thinks the right thing to do is to ship American jobs overseas, to destroy families and communities, then I challenge him to go and look those workers in the eye and have the guts to tell them to their face that they can’t compete. I’ve stood with these workers all across America – and let me tell you, they can compete, because they are the best workers in the world.

NAFTA was written by insiders in all three countries, and it served their interests – not the interests of regular workers. It included unprecedented rights for corporate investors, but no labor or environmental protections in its core text. And over the past 15 years, we have seen growing income inequality in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Well enough is enough. Americans have paid the price long enough. We need to change our fundamental approach to trade. We need to make American values the foundation of our trade deals, and we need to put workers back at their core.

***

We can and we must change this. I believe we need to follow three principles to make sure globalization works for everyone.

(1st) trade deals must benefit workers, not just big multinational corporations.

Today, our trade agreements are negotiated behind closed doors. The multinationals get their say, but when one goes to Congress it gets an up or down vote – no amendments are allowed. No wonder that corporations get unique protections, while workers don’t benefit. That’s wrong.

Imagine trade policies that actually put American workers first.

We need fair rules for workers, and we need strong protections for labor and the environment and against currency manipulation. If a deal is good for middle-class families, it’s good for America; if it’s not, it’s not.

(2nd) our trade policies should also lift up workers around the world.

This struggle over fair trade is about more that just what’s at stake for America’s workers – it’s also about what’s at stake for workers in every country. Making sure that workers around the globe are treated fairly and share in trade gains is the right thing to do morally, it’s the right thing to do economically, and it will make us much safer and more secure.

That’s what strong labor standards are all about. Making sure that workers have the right to organize and earn a fair wage will not only prevent a “race to the bottom” on labor rights – it will also help build a global middle class that shares in the gains from trade and creates markets for U.S. exports.

(3rd) we need to address more than just our trade policies in order to restore fairness and opportunity to workers.

I talked earlier about some of the adverse effects of globalization – stagnant wages and rising inequality.

To help regular Americans get ahead and stay ahead, we need to make sure our children get a quality education and have the chance to go to college.

We need to raise the minimum wage, strengthen unions, and help families build assets.

And the most important thing we can do to provide security to our workers is to guarantee universal health care in this country. I am proud to be the first major candidate to come out with a plan for universal health care.

We also need to invest resources to ensure that our country keeps its competitive edge in the world.

We need to create the jobs of the future right here in America and make sure our workers have the skills they need to fill them. We need to make the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit permanent, invest in life sciences and biomedical research, strengthen math and science education, and create a new energy economy.

We need a new era in trade policy. We need “smart trade” policies that American workers can say yes to – trade policies that do more than pay lip service to their needs and that actually make sure prosperity is shared. Trade policies that are as innovative as the American people. And when I’m president, those are the trade policies we will have.

And let me be clear: we will make sure that these policies are in place before we pass a single new trade deal.

In my first year in office, I will spend time working with Congress to get our trade policies straight — policies which ensure that Americans workers finally begin to see benefits from the global economy. And then, when we negotiate new trade deals it won’t just be big multinational corporations whose interests are served – it will also be the interests of American workers, America’s communities, and our global environment.

Sounds like Edwards “gets this globalization problem”, doesn’t it! Globalization involves so much more than empowering the Supply-side of the Equation (the big multinational corporations)it also involves empowering the Demand-side too (ie. the workers and the consumers who actually make Economies tick)!

Edwards see the root of the problem, as Ross Perot correctly identified — it’s the “wage differential” between countries.

This is the root of the “competitive advantage” for all the ‘Wal-Marts’ of the World. But it is also the source of “Lose-Lose economic insecurity” for Workers on both sides of so many global Trade Deals! (even for Workers in other countries)

Here’s a few more examples showing that Edwards ‘gets it’:

John Edwards on Outsourcing



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards to Steelworkers on Trade



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

John Edwards answers question about ‘Made in the USA’



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

June 17, 2007


Questioner: If you go into a store nowadays, everything is Made in China, and Japan. What can be done so that some of the stuff we buy is made in the good old U.S.A?



John Edwards:

“If you’re talking about ‘low wage jobs’, which is the kind of goods you’re talking about — that’s the reason they’re ‘being made somewhere else’ — because people are working for a fraction of what people work for in the United States of America.

What we have to do is:

Have Trade Agreements that are Fair.

Have Country of Origin labeling.

And then in the United States looking forward,

we got have the most educated, most innovative work force on the planet.

It’s absolutely crucial!

I saw what happened when the mill closed …

and all of a sudden their job’s gone —

it does something to a man or woman’s dignity when that happens

It’s not just money — it’s about self respect!

We need a President of the United States who understands that — who feels it!



These were really good men and women who worked in that mill with my Dad, who I think are worth every bit as much as any President of the United States, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. And they deserve a chance when they are hit by Trade and Jobs going somewhere else. And we need a President who will stand up for them. That’s what we need.”

{loud applause}

If the American people aren’t smart enough, or brave enough, or quick enough to Adapt, and break out of this well worn track — called Free Trade and Outsourcing — well the raw forces of Global Competition, will ultimately destroy all memories of the American Dream, that our Constitution inspires!

Beware of Economic Darwinism — brought to you by Right Wing Priorities!

This subtle transfer of power primarily to an elite ruling class is well underway! The Losers in this Experiment are the hard working American Workers (and the desperate workers in other countries too).

To Supply-siders, such “wage-workers” are simply a cost of production, that must be minimized above all else.

To these “Free Traders”, Human Dignity has very little to do with it — it’s just Business!

BusinessWeek

Jan 30, 2006

SPECIAL REPORT

The Future Of Outsourcing

How it’s transforming whole industries and changing the way we work

Globalization has been brutal to midwestern manufacturers

U.S. workers suddenly face a grave new threat, with even highly educated tech and service professionals having to compete against legions of hungry college grads in India, China, and the Philippines willing to work twice as hard for one-fifth the pay.

Workers’ fears have some grounding in fact. The prime motive of most corporate bean counters jumping on the offshoring bandwagon has been to take advantage of such “labor arbitrage” — the huge wage gap between industrialized and developing nations. And without doubt, big layoffs often accompany big outsourcing deals.

The changes can be harsh and deep. But a more enlightened, strategic view of global sourcing is starting to emerge as managers get a better fix on its potential. The new buzzword is “transformational outsourcing.” Many executives are discovering offshoring is really about corporate growth

“This isn’t about labor cost,” says Daniel Marovitz, technology managing director for Deutsche Bank’s global businesses. “The issue is that if you don’t do it, you won’t survive.”  …

The “transforming of whole industries” is underway … and the Captains of Industry have begun to re-frame their Supply-side Theories in terms of essential “Global Survival”!

I’m reminded of the great wit of John Edwards, to capture this insane chase, and re-frame the argument right back on these unchecked Corporate Interests:

CBS

John Edwards:

It doesn’t say life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profit in the Declaration of Independence.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories…

—-

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

—-

John Edwards IS Standing Up for Workers, right now!

Will the Workers “adapt”, and Stand Up for Edwards?

That Global Clock is Ticking …

Edwards Evening News RoundUp: Why I’m with Edwards Edition

This edition of EENR will be a little different. I will be reporting the latest News on John Edwards of course, BUT with a focus on the WHY’s behind the Edwards headlines.

Why are people supporting John Edwards, anyways?

Don’t these people know that the National Polls and the Media already have scripted out how this Election is supposed to turn out?

Silly People, thinking they should actually be able to make up their own minds! Imagine that — the People actually picking their own Leader! (And NOT having one Picked for them!)

So stick around for a spirited look at why more and more people are saying:

Why I’m with Edwards” …

(1) Here is an interesting Edwards Headline, from the Wall Street Journal:

WSJ

Iowa Farmers Union Embraces Edwards

Dec 21, 2007

John Edwards will get a welcome endorsement this evening from the Iowa Farmers Union, the state’s biggest advocacy group for family farmers and rural communities.

[Note: other Sources have Reported that it’s only the President of this Farmers Union, and NOT the Union itself that is Endorsing Edwards — WSJ needs to hire back its Fact-Checkers, it seems.]

And the WHY behind the Endorsement?

“All the Democrats have good things about them,” Peterson said in an interview, but “Edwards cleaned house in rural areas in 2003” because “he’s against corporate farms and for localized economies.”

Here’s a few more reasons from this “influential Iowa agriculture leader”, Chris Petersen:

Chris Petersen, who is currently the president of the Iowa Farmers Union, endorsed the former North Carolina senator at a Friday rally in Nevada.



Petersen said he picked Edwards because of his strong views on the enforcement of anti-trust laws and competition in the livestock industry.

A vocal critic of the agribusiness conglomerates that have rapidly changed the face of agriculture in the Midwest, Petersen said “it’s time we got some political courage and leadership” to solve those problems.

(2) Here is an interesting Edwards Headline:

Edwards Unveils Stimulus Plan To Strengthen Economy And Create New Jobs

Dec 22, 2007

On final day of the “Fighting for America’s Voice” tour, Edwards urges Congress to pass $25 billion job creation plan

Lisbon, Iowa – On the final day of his “Fighting for America’s Voice” tour, Senator John Edwards proposed an economic stimulus package to strengthen our economy and create new jobs. Edwards urged Congress to act immediately to pass at least a $25 billion jobs plan in early 2008 and be ready to pass $75 billion more if there is more evidence that we are entering a recession. Edwards believes that every American should have access to a good job and the chance to build a better life. …

the specifics

Yet again John Edwards is Leading with very specific comprehensive plans, to deal with REAL Problems faced by REAL Americans! One of those REAL Americans was there to speak up for Edwards’ Plan today:

About Doug Bishop:

Today, Edwards will be joined on the tour by Doug Bishop who, in September 2004, was among the first wave of employees to be laid off at the Maytag plant in Newton, Iowa. … Edwards is running for president to make sure the voices of hard-working Americans like Doug get heard in Washington.

And the WHY behind the Endorsement?

John Edwards – Introduction by Doug Bishop – Newton, Iowa



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

Doug Bishop:

The American Dream is being taken away slowly, and surely, by some powerful people, who have No Respect for the American Workers in this country.



People like my grandfather, and hundreds before him, and hundreds after him, they didn’t strive to be rich. They didn’t strive to work their way through the Company and become the CEO …  at Maytag he was chasing the American Dream, and he was allowed to finish that out. … As of yesterday, I had several relatives and neighbors who had that Dream taken away from them.



It’s happening all across this Country. We have tried, and tried, tried to get these unabated Trade Agreements — which are robbing Americans of their Livelihoods — stopped!



and most importantly, and this is something I’ll never forget, he grabbed my 7 year old son by the hand, he dropped to one knee, and he looked him straight in the eye, and he said: ‘I’m gonna keep fighting for your Daddy’s Job, I promise you that.’  

Two years later, a man of his word — you know that stuff sticks with you —  

… with no media, no press, no big event, it was just one man being a good person. Two years later he sets up a meeting at the Maytag Plant after they announced the closing. …

He wanted to sit down with the People who were effected, in that Plant, that day. ‘What are you going to do with your lives? What can I do to help? Where do we go from here?’

That’s the kind of things we need in a Leader in this Country!

… I want a guy who’s gonna sit down, and look a 7 year old kid in the eye, and tell him, ‘I’m gonna fight for your Dad’s Job’.  That’s what I want!”

{applause} …

You know, fighting for the dignity of the American Worker, and their families, is at the very core of what it means to be an American. Or at least it used to be …

Franklin D. Roosevelt called for Four Freedoms …

They were the basis of FDR’s vision of Economic Fairness. Unfortunately, not all of these Freedom were fully incorporated in the New Deal legislation, that pulled the Country out of the Great Depression in the 1930’s

Here are those 4 Principles:

FDR’s Four Freedoms:

  1. Freedom of speech and expression

  2. Freedom of every person to worship in his own way

  3. Freedom from want

  4. Freedom from fear

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…

—-

A network of bloggers are carrying on with FDR’s Vision today. And guess who they just Endorsed for their Candidate for President?

(3) Here is an interesting Edwards Headline:

Four Freedoms Announces Endorsement of John Edwards

12/21/2007

And the WHY behind the Endorsement?

WALTHAM, MA – December 20, 2007 – The influential non-partisan discussion board and blog ‘Four Freedoms’ (http://www.fourfreedomsblog.com/) announces its endorsement of John Edwards in the Democratic Primary.

Senator Edwards has been a longtime supporter of the downtrodden, from his early days as a litigator to his Senate track record. John Edwards dwells not on the past, but on the hope for the future, and is the only candidate that truly understands what is important to average Americans.



The founders of Four Freedoms urge all true Americans and Patriots to vote for Senator Edwards, and calls upon citizens to cross party lines if necessary in order to advance Senator Edward’s campaign and restore hope, decency, and civility to the American Political Process, something that has been lacking for quite some time. Senator Edwards may not have all the answers, but he is our best hope for true change and progress towards what all Americas believe in…that is, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Now that’s truly a New Deal Endorsement! That is quite the statement about exactly WHO is ready to Fight for US.

(4) Here is an interesting Edwards Headline:

Des Moines Register

Surgery gives man a chance to speak his mind

Dec 22, 2007

If you’ve been to a recent Edwards event in Iowa or watched television, odds are good you already know Lowe’s story. He was born dirt-poor in Kentucky with a cleft palate. He moved to a mill town in the Appalachian Mountains and worked in coal mines for decades before an injury broke his back and put him on disability.

Lowe never had surgery to fix that cleft palate because he could not afford health insurance.

And for the first 50 years of his life, Lowe could hardly speak. He was an incomprehensible mumbler until about a year ago when a doctor donated cleft-palate surgery and, literally, gave Lowe a voice.

Now, Lowe has become a metaphor for the stated goal of Edwards’ campaign: to give a voice to the voiceless.

I had an emotional reaction listening to his story,” Edwards said Friday in an interview. “I had a sense of outrage that somebody had lived for 50 years in America not able to speak because they had no health care. How could my country let people like James down like that?”

And the WHY behind the Endorsement?

Edwards invited Lowe to the microphone, hugged him, and then Lowe spoke for about 45 seconds.

He cares about people like me and you all,” Lowe said in his Southern accent that’s tinged with a speech impediment.

Then he pointed at Edwards and said, “This man is number one man for president.”



Best of all, Lowe said, he has the guts to stand up in front of hundreds of people – and he’s got the voice so he can say something.

That is how the flame of Outrage is lit:  

[John Edwards meets James Lowe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

And well, for some people, that flame never does go out, until Justice has been done … and until, what was wrong, is set right again.

(5) Here is a heart-wrenching Edwards Headline:

TPM

Edwards Mailer In Iowa Touts His Trial Lawyer Representation Of Injured Girl

By Greg Sargent – Dec 21, 2007

“John Edwards gave our Family hope … And then he walked into that courtroom and gave that irresponsible company hell.”

And the WHY behind the Endorsement?

Sandy Lakey Introduces John Edwards, West Des Moines, Iowa



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

Sandy Lakey:

“I know John because, he saved our daughters life

[the unthinkable happens to their family]

… so we began talking to attorneys, which was a new experience for us. I was in such a haze of grief, shock, and exhaustion, that little of what anyone said penetrated my fog. The only words I wanted to hear were: ‘I can help Valerie’.

And then we met John Edwards. When he held my hands and looked in my eyes, I saw the compassion, honesty, and integrity that is John Edwards. When he said the magic words I wanted to hear, I knew in my heart, that THIS Man would Fight as hard for Valerie, as if she were his OWN Daughter.

Because of John, I began to feel Hope.

We quickly realized John Edwards wasn’t just Valerie’s attorney — He was her Champion.

John Edwards took on the irresponsible manufacturer of the defective product that had caused Valerie’s injury. And we learned she wasn’t the FIRST Child to be maimed, or even killed by this Companies absolute indifference!

Even worse the company knew their product was defective, but hid the truth. John exposed their negligence, and Won Justice for Valerie.

John Edwards gave us hope in our darkest hours. He ensured that Valerie’s Medical Expenses would be taken care of for the rest of her life. And he helped change the ways companies do business, to make swimming pools safer for children.

Recently she told me, that she occasionally feels happy. That’s not something I thought I’d ever hear her say because her life hasn’t been easy. She’s suffered through horrors, that NO ONE should have to deal with, especially a child. She lives with pain everyday, and probably will for the rest of her life. But she’s strong, and with the help of people like John Edwards, she HAS survived.

She is here with me today to show her support, and love, for John Edwards. We believe that John has the intelligence, the determination, will power, integrity, and above all, the heart, to be a great leader to all of us in the United States.

We are honored to know him, and feel privileged to be here today. He talks about the heroes that he has met in his life, and during his campaign travels. But to us, He is the Hero!  Thank you John.”

{applause}

WOW! That’s what it means, to fight for the “little guy”. That’s the same way John Edwards will fight for US, if we have the “same determination”, to help send him to the White House. If we do, Edwards will give Voice again, to us — the forgotten American People!

(6) Here is an interesting Edwards Headline:



seacoastonline.com

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne stump for Edwards

By Elizabeth Dinan

Dec 20, 2007

PORTSMOUTH – Wooing 700 voters at the Frank Jones Center on Wednesday, presidential candidate John Edwards pitched his plans for health care, warfare and education with a live rock ‘n’ roll sound track, a whiff of Hollywood and an endorsement from a local nuclear submarine welder.

Wrapping their endorsements for Edwards around a four-song set, Grammy-winning musicians Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne were introduced by actor Peter Coyote.

And the WHY’s behind the new ground swell of New Hampshire Excitement?

I Am A Patriot with backing by Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

—-

Here is what a few of those New Hampshire citizens have to say about WHY they are NOW supporting John Edwards:

Citizen one:

“Seeing John Edwards speak tonite, and you know just listening to him answer the questions — and feeling the Energy in the Audience, in the crowd, he definitely has my Vote”

Citizen two:

I love how straightforward he is, but I think also, how brave he is.”

Citizen three:

“He’s talking, he’s talking … fighting … the big corporations — Nobody else is saying that.”

Citizen four:

“I do feel like there is a lot of momentum going on, and I think that, John is going to take it over the top. And I think that he’s gonna win this Election.”

Hey, for you other New Hampshire citizens who have finally found your Candidate in Edwards, you too, can get involved to “help win this thing.” Here’s how:

http://johnedwards.com/nh/volu…

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For more voices from New Hampshire, their stories start here:

http://johnedwards.com/nh/

—-

(7) Here is a different Edwards Headline (with the Media Reporting on the Blogs — now that’s a switch):

startribune.com

Minneapolis, MN

Blog House: Edwards remains a wild card as caucuses near



The most surprising development is that Edwards, who’s been consistently third in most Iowa polls, seems to have a little heat behind him.

And the WHY behind those blogs which are buzzing about Edwards?

Marc Ambinder:

“On Monday, the Edwards campaign recorded more e-mail sign-ups than almost any day in its history,” Marc Ambinder (1) reported. “Over the weekend, the campaign was forced to add four new servers to handle all the Web traffic. Contributions are up online: Thursday and Friday, the two days after the debate, made for one of the highest 2-day totals they’ve seen in months.”

David Mizner:

In this race, Edwards could prove to be the tortoise and Clinton and Obama a pair of hares, according to David Mizner at MyDD (2). “It wasn’t supposed to be this way, with Edwards still in the thick of the race. Clinton and Obama had planned to out-spend and out-celebrity him into oblivion. The best-laid plans.”

So that’s it for tonite’s Roundup. Thanks for taking a few moments to reflect on the type of Leader, you would like to see running this country. I hope these “behind the news” snapshots, help give you some insight into the character, passion, and determination, that an Edwards Presidency would bring to Washington DC.

Most of these people Speaking out above, have given you a window into some of their reasons to “Why I’m with Edwards?”

SO, “WHY am I, with Edwards?”

Simply stated, out of all the Candidates running, John Edwards speaks out the most passionately, and clearly, and bravely, on nearly all of the Issues, that matter to me and my family!

And on top of that, in nearly every case, Edwards was the first one to take a bold stand, with thoughtful and detailed plans to the many problems this Country faces. “Fixing America” and “Restoring the American Dream”, for ordinary hard-working Americans, is more than just talk with John Edwardsit’s the cause of his life!

Such a Fighter, for real Progressive Democratic Values, will get MY Vote, every time!

Please, Edwards supporters, take a few moments, to add a comment or two about, if you can, about “WHY you’re with Edwards, too?”

(I’m sure there are still some undecideds out there, lurking, who would probably like to know.  Thanks.)