Edwards 2008 Bid To Push Plight of Poor

A former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, is set to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination this morning, emphasizing the plight of the underclass by launching his campaign from a blighted New Orleans neighborhood hard hit in Hurricane Katrina.By focusing on social justice and the poor, Mr. Edwards, 53, hopes to court Democratic Party activists and pose a challenge from the left to other likely presidential contenders, such as Senator Clinton.“I don’t think there’s any question that by talking about labor, the minimum wage, and poverty, his strategy has been to run as the progressive alternative,” a Democratic operative and lobbyist, Steven Elmendorf, said in an interview.Mr. Edwards, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2004 and later became the party’s vice presidential nominee, scores well in opinion polls, particularly in the early caucus state of Iowa. However, his hopes of becoming the alternative to Mrs. Clinton have been set back by a relatively new entrant on the political scene, Senator Obama of Illinois, who is also mulling a presidential bid.Mr. Elmendorf said a run by Mr. Obama would “take quite a bit of air out” of Mr. Edwards’s campaign. “He has a problem running as the new guy,” the strategist said. “Obama takes up a lot of political space.”Democratic strategists said Mr. Edwards has made good use of his time since leaving the Senate in 2004. “He has done some very smart things over the past couple of years to position himself differently from the rest of the field,” a Democratic consultant, Christopher Lehane, said.In addition to staking out the poverty issue and boosting his foreign affairs resume with international travel, Mr. Edwards, who was a trial lawyer before being elected to the Senate, has moved aggressively to win the support of labor unions, particularly those for service workers.“He’s made an effort. He’s worked it hard,” Mr. Elmendorf said. However, he said, he doubts many unions will be willing to endorse Mr. Edwards in the primary, in part because Mrs. Clinton will be seeking those same endorsements, or a pledge from labor groups to stay neutral.“When Senator Clinton gets engaged with them, she’s very formidable,” Mr. Elmendorf said. “President Clinton did a lot for them.”Mr. Elmendorf said union leaders will be wary of repeating the scenario from 2004, when some endorsed the upstart candidate, Dr. Howard Dean, only to see his bid fizzle out.Mr. Lehane, who served for a time as a spokesman for the Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Kerry of Massachusetts, said one of the biggest challenges facing Mr. Edwards is a financial one, as contenders for the nomination are seen as needing to raise about $20 million by June.“If you look at Hillary, she’s like a blue-chip stock, good fundamentals, sustained growth, big dividends. Obama winds up being either the Google, which goes through the roof and fundamentally changes everything, or he ends up like Petco.com,” Mr. Lehane said. “Edwards is one of those candidates you end up betting long on.”One asset Mr. Edwards has is that many of those who worked closely with him on his losing primary bid in 2004 seemed to enjoy the experience, while some who worked for other candidates grew disillusioned. “People working with him really enjoyed working with him and had great respect for him,” Mr. Lehane said.A Des Moines teacher who runs a Web site promoting Mr. Edwards, Joshua Brown, said Mr. Edwards’s sincerity and authenticity serve him well in the small-group settings where Iowa caucus-goers meet the candidates. “He connects really well,” Mr. Brown said. “In Iowa politics, a lot of it comes down to meeting the person and being able to ask them the question you want to ask.”Mr. Brown said Mrs. Clinton’s celebrity could actually make it harder for her to compete. “There’s going to be tons of people showing up,” he said. “It’s just going to be to see Hillary Clinton. “It’s not going to be to listen to Hillary Clinton.”

Edwards 2008 Bid To Push Plight of Poor

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