Too Early to Give Up on Edwards’s Star

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The New York Sun

In 1998, John Edwards gave up his lucrative pursuit of medical malpractice lawsuits for a life in public office that began in the U.S. Senate and culminated with a run on the Democratic Party’s presidential ticket.


On Tuesday, the collapse of the Kerry campaign brought Mr. Edwards’s political career to an abrupt halt and may force him back into the courts to pay the bills. But analysts say his political star is on the rise and that any further dalliance he may have with the law would most likely be short-lived.


“Edwards returning to personal-injury law on a permanent basis would be akin to Ronald Reagan going back to Hollywood after losing his second presidential bid,” a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Walter Olson, said. “When you’re as credible a presidential candidate as Edwards, you’re certain to get a lot of job offers that generate favorable press coverage.”


Mr. Edwards’s life in politics was made possible by the more than $152 million he won from judgments in 63 “no win, no fee” lawsuits, according to the Center for Public Integrity. In 1997, he used $6 million of his own money and portrayed himself as “an advocate for the people” to defeat an incumbent for the Senate.


While not drawing national attention, his time in the Senate did help build his political cachet, analysts said. He co-authored a Patient’s Bill of Rights, participated in legislation that brought down the price of prescription drugs by $60 billion, and worked on security as a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence. It was during the 2004 presidential campaign, however, that he earned his place as a national leader of the party with a message of joining together “two Americas,” one for people who have lived the American Dream and don’t have to worry, another for Americans who work hard and still struggle to make ends meet.


“He certainly had a message that caught on with lots of people and politicians in this country,” a political science professor at the University of North Carolina, Thad Belye, said. “There are many people out there, I’m sure, who will want to help him parlay that into something higher.”


As strong as his prospects may be, they won’t mean much in his home state of North Carolina at least until 2008, when races for the governor’s and Senate seats will take place. Mr. Edwards is highly unlikely to find a job in the Bush administration, Mr. Belye said.


It is more probable that Mr. Edwards will pursue a job in academia or at a think tank focused on trade or defense, which would give him the foreign policy credentials he lacks, Mr. Olson said.


Any time he may spend back in medical liability law could be seen as a negative.


“For everybody concerned about frivolous lawsuits and the crisis with out of control judgments, John Edwards’s return to the courts would only strengthen his image as the symbol for tort reform,” said Shelley Hymes, a spokeswoman for the November Fund, a 527 committee organized with the help of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to attack Mr. Edwards for his time spent as a trial lawyer.


What Mr. Edwards does over the next four years will more likely be of his own making, said Barbara Kellerman, research director at the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He has national recognition, excellent fund-raising abilities, ambition to exploit, and no Kerry drag, she said.


“But ultimately his day job may not be as important as making sure he stays in touch with the Democratic base, through fund-raising and activism.” Ms. Kellerman said. “If he does, I’d be very surprised if he didn’t soon jump back into the political fray.”


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