2008 Election
John Edwards

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Elizabeth Edwards is married to John Edwards, 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and 2004 Election Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate.

20080427
• Elizabeth Edwards - Edwards - Biden - Barack Obama - Media - Television - Corporations - Sports - Politics - 2008 Election - Pennsylvania - Freedom - Health - "Bowling 1, Health Care 0." ... "For the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its [2008 Election] Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?" ... "Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But in Pennsylvania, as in the rest of the country this political season, the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut. After having spent more than a year on the campaign trail with my husband, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards, I’m not surprised." ... "Why? Here’s my guess: The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country’s inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments." ... "But I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture." ... "Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties." ... "What’s more, the news media cut candidates like Joe Biden out of the process even before they got started." ... "News is different from other programming on television or other content in print. It is essential to an informed electorate. And an informed electorate is essential to freedom itself. But as long as corporations to which news gathering is not the primary source of income or expertise get to decide what information about the candidates “sells,” we are not functioning as well as we could if we had the engaged, skeptical press we deserve." ... "If voters want a vibrant, vigorous press, apparently we will have to demand it." (1, 2) -By Elizabeth Edwards -NYTimes 

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20080421
• Elizabeth Edwards - John McCain - Government - Health Care - Politics - Drugs - Market - Occupations - Firefighting - Telecom - Arizona - 2008 Election - "Elizabeth Edwards On Health Care: ‘This Is Not A Cheap Shot; It Is Potentially Life And Death’." ... [By Elizabeth Edwards:] "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain accused me of taking a “cheap shot” on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” yesterday for noting that people with preexisting conditions, such as he and I have, would not be able to get health care under his plan –- and that he perhaps was not as sensitive to this problem as he should be since he has been in government health care his whole life." ... "[Arizona Senator] Sen. McCain noted that he was not receiving government health care for the six years he was in captivity. That is true. But it has nothing to do with my point — which is that the problem with Sen. McCain’s health care plan is not how it affects us –- but how it affects the tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions who, unlike Sen. McCain and myself, do not have the resources to pay for quality health care." ... "That is not a cheap shot, it is a potentially life and death question for tens of million of Americans. And it is a question Sen. McCain must address." ... "McCain’s health care plan is centered around the idea that we’d be better off if more Americans bought health coverage on their own, rather than receiving it through a job or government program. But maybe since he has never purchased insurance in the individual market, he does not know the challenge it presents for Americans with preexisting conditions." ... "A recent study showed that nearly nine out of every ten people seeking individual coverage on the private insurance market never got it. Insurers will disqualify you for just taking certain medicines because of the possibility of future costs, including common drugs as Lipitor, Zocor, Nexium, and Advair. People who have had cancer are denied coverage and those who get cancer run the risk of simply being dropped by their insurer for any excuse that can be found. And insurers make it a practice to deny coverage to individuals in high risk occupations, such as firefighting, lumber work, telecom installation, and pretty much anything more risky than working in an office." -By Elizabeth Edwards -ThinkProgress.org /Wonk Room 

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20080408
• Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - John Edwards - John McCain - Health - 2008 Election - New York - Illinois - Ariz - "Elizabeth Edwards Backs Clinton Health Care Plan: Edwards Declines to Endorse Either Democrat, but Likes Idea of 'Dream Ticket'." ... "Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former [2008 Election] presidential candidate John Edwards, remains unwilling to endorse either of the two remaining Democratic contenders, but the health care advocate told ABC News she preferred [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator Hillary] Sen. Clinton's health plan to [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator Barack] Sen. Obama's." ... "In an interview with "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts, airing Wednesday, Edwards — who recently began work as a senior fellow at the liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress — said she believed Clinton's health care plan was more inclusive than that of the Illinois senator." ... ""You need that universality in order to get the cost savings ... I just have more confidence in Sen. Clinton's policy than Sen. Obama's on this particular issue," she said." ... "She [Elizabeth Edwards] argued that neither she, who has breast cancer, nor [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator John] McCain, R-Ariz., who had skin cancer in the past, could obtain health insurance under his health care proposal." ... "Edwards said she liked the idea of Clinton and Obama running together on a so-called dream ticket, and discounted the idea of her husband, John, accepting a place as either candidate's running mate." ... ""[Clinton and Obama] are the two strongest Democrats running. It's hard not to believe that together they are stronger than they would be apart."" (1, 2) -By Russell Goldman -ABCNEWS.com 

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20080330
• John McCain - Edwards - Consumer - Laws - Politics - Arizona - Women - 2008 Election - "McCain's health plan fails her test: Neither Elizabeth Edwards, whose cancer is incurable, nor the presumptive Republican presidential nominee would be covered by his policy, she asserts." ... "Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former [2008 Election] Democratic presidential contender John Edwards, said she and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain have one thing in common: "Neither one of us would be covered by his health policy."" ... "Edwards lodged her criticism of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's proposal Saturday at the annual meeting of the Assn. [Association] of Health Care Journalists." ... "Under McCain's plan, insurance companies "wouldn't have to cover preexisting conditions like melanoma and breast cancer," she said." ... "McCain has been treated for melanoma, the most serious type of skin malignancy. Edwards in 2004 was diagnosed with breast cancer, and announced a year ago that it had returned and spread into her bones, meaning it no longer could be cured." ... "His [McCain's health] plan would make it difficult for people with preexisting conditions, but who aren't covered by a government- or job-sponsored plan, to buy individual coverage, Edwards said." ... "Cancer survivors are routinely denied insurance when they try to purchase it as individuals, health experts say." ... "Edwards also criticized McCain's proposal because it would allow companies to sell health insurance across state lines." ... ""... Edwards said the plan would allow insurers to move their headquarters to states in which consumer protection laws are weak." -By Rong-Gong Lin II -LAtimes 

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20080328
• John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Poverty - Health Care - Economics - Politics - North Carolina - 2008 Election - "Who’ll Stop the Pain?" ... "In the days after [former 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards’s withdrawal from the Democratic race, the political world expected his endorsement of [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama would be forthcoming tout de suite." ... "But now two months have passed since Edwards dropped out—tempus fugit!—and still no endorsement. Why? According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof. His response to Edwards’s imprecations that he make poverty a central part of his agenda was shallow, perfunctory, pat. [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton, by contrast, engaged Edwards in a lengthy policy discussion. Her affect was solicitous and respectful. When Clinton met Edwards face-to-face in North Carolina ten days later, her approach continued to impress; she even made headway with Elizabeth [Edwards, John Edwards's wife]. Whereas in his Edwards sit-down, Obama dug himself in deeper, getting into a fight with Elizabeth about health care, insisting that his plan is universal (a position she considers a crock), high-handedly criticizing Clinton’s plan (and by extension Edwards’s) for its insurance mandate." -By John Heilemann -NYMag.com 

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20080130
• John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - New Orleans - Louisiana - Poverty - Homeless- People - Health Care - US - Iraq - Military - Money - 2008 Election - "Democrat Edwards exits presidential race: Clinton, Obama praise ex-rival, who refrains from endorsing one or other." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Democrat John Edwards bowed out of the race for the White House on Wednesday, saying it was time to step aside “so that history can blaze its path” in a campaign now left to [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama." ... ""It is time for me to step aside," said Edwards, ending his second campaign in a hurricane-ravaged section of New Orleans [Louisiana] where he began it more than a year ago. “With our convictions and a little backbone we will take back the White House in November.”" ... "Edwards said Clinton and Obama had both pledged that “they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.”" ... "“This is the cause of my life and I now have their commitment to engage in this cause,” he said before a small group of supporters. He was joined by his wife Elizabeth and his three children, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack." ... "Edwards said that on his way to make his campaign-ending statement, he drove by a highway underpass where several homeless people live. He stopped to talk, he said, and as he was leaving, one of them asked him never to forget them and their plight." ... "“Well I say to her and I say to all those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you,” he said, pledging to continue his campaign-long effort to end what he frequently said was “two Americas,” one for the powerful, the other for the rest." ... "Edwards burst out of the starting gate with a flurry of progressive policy ideas — he was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, the first to call on Congress to pull funding for the [Iraq] war, and he led the charge that lobbyists have too much power in Washington and need to be reigned in." (1, 2) -AP via -MSNBC 

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20080108
• John Edwards- Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Health - Industry - New Hampshire - Nevada - South Carolina - Illinois - 2008 Election - "What if it's a two-man Democratic race? New Hampshire may leave Clinton on the ropes, reshaping the contest." ... "Imagine a whole new race for the Democratic presidential nomination: a two-man contest between the 2004 vice presidential nominee, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards, and the rookie phenomenon of 2008, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama." ... "If [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton were to suffer a defeat of large proportions on Tuesday night in the New Hampshire primary, and if her star were to fade in the succeeding contests in Nevada and South Carolina, she might either quit the race or cease to be a dominant factor." ... "Elizabeth Edwards, the candidate’s wife and most outspoken campaign advocate, pressed the critique of Obama on Monday at a stop in Bedford, N.H. [New Hampshire.]" ... "“Sen. Obama, when he was in the state Senate in Illinois, took money from the health insurance industry at the same time that he was suggesting an amendment that was favorable to the health insurance industry and was unfavorable to the people of the Illinois,” she told a small crowd." ... "She also slammed Obama for having a lobbyist as co-chairman of his New Hampshire campaign." ... "[John Edwards strategist Joe Trippi:] “For a year everybody was told this contest is between him (Obama) and her (Clinton),” Trippi argued. “And during that year, the national audience has learned quite a bit about him, most of it amazingly good: amazing speaker, incredibly inspirational — and yet where is he nationally? He’s at 25 percent. The Rasmussen Poll, which is the only national one I’ve seen since Iowa, has him at 25. I’ll tell you why: They have massive doubts about this guy — on their own.”" ... "In other words, even without advertising from Edwards pointing out flaws in the Obama image or record, many Democratic voters have doubts about Obama." ... "“If you were going to fall under his spell, wouldn’t you have done it by now?” asked Trippi." (1, 2) -By Tom Curry -MSNBC 

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