The buzz around North Carolina Senator John Edwards began to build even before he won the contest for the seat then held by Lauch Faircloth in November, 1998. While this seat has been something of a cursed chair since Watergate figure Sam Ervin retired from it in 1974 (no one has won re-election in the position, and one occupant, John East, committed suicide), Edwards was not expected to win against the popular and experienced Faircloth. Edwards used his personal story to great effect, and the soft money that flooded the state in support of the trial-lawyer-turned-politician underscores his position as a rising – indeed shooting – star in the Democratic firmament.
In the year preceding the actual 1998 election, the National Democratic Party established a soft money account called the N.C. Democratic Party Transfer Account. Contributions to this account went toward attacks on Faircloth. Some of the big names who sized up Edwards and liked what they saw: Steven Spielberg, Rob Reiner, Dwayne Andreas and Peter Angelos. So Hollywood, corporate America and the trial lawyers all put their money where their long-range political plans saw that it was needed. It helped that Edwards is a rich man, of course. He put up $6 million of the $8 million used by his campaign. That’s impressive by anyone’s count.
Edwards does have a compelling story. He is the first of his family to attend college and law school, and his commercials have stressed his parents’ blue-collar roots. His family life is the real deal, and includes the tragedy of the death of his oldest son Wade in a 1996 car crash. He married his wife Elizabeth in 1977, and his other three children, including a toddler, are clearly central in his life. Even Republican lawyers in North Carolina have admitted that they would close up shop to go hear Edwards present a closing argument, and that talent allowed him to amass a large fortune that he used to support his entry into politics.
And while Edwards votes like a Kennedy, his southern roots have allowed him to capture the most cherished media designation available: a moderate. Now comes word that Edwards is hiring staff for a run at the presidency in 2004 – and that he has been consulting closely with, that’s right, Bill Clinton. Morton Kondracke and other seasoned pundits dismiss the Edwards’ moves as steps to be taken in advance of a run for the presidential roses in 2008, but politics changed in the ’90s. Those who wait their turns end up waiting the equivalent of political tables – doing bits on CNN’s Crossfire. On the first day of the fall season, I told my radio audience that I think an Edwards-Clinton ticket was a real possibility in 2004, and that night Chris Matthews put the same ticket on the table. Here are five reasons why a freshman senator might be the best standard bearer the Dems could ask for in the oust-Bush movement:
- North Carolina. The door on the south swung back to shut in the Dems’ 2000 campaign. Gore could not carry his home state of Tennessee or Clinton’s Arkansas. The electoral map math moved even more in favor of a southern candidate with the Census results. The idea that a Kerry, Lieberman or Daschle could somehow pry a couple of Dixie’s finest back into the blue state column is silly. To be serious about 2004 is to be serious about a southern Dem at the head of the ticket.
- That “moderate” tag. The elite media is working overtime to paint Bush as a captive of the paleo conservatives, and they are using his foreign policy common sense to push that agenda. The “unilateralist” tag will be back as soon as the U.N. Conference on Racism fades from memory, and the anti-national missile defense crowd is out selling its snake oil already. The media’s already ready for a “moderate” they can contrast with the “ideological” Bush, and Edwards fits that bill nicely.
- Hillary. She’s going to run for president in 2008. Edwards knows she cannot run in 2004, and no sane Dem wants to run against her in Party primaries where the true-believers hold sway. So it’s now or 2012 at the earliest for Edwards.
- Bill. Edwards has already seen and acted upon the wisdom of drawing close to the disgraced but still standing ex-prez. Bill won’t forget the high profile senator who sought him out even as the Rich pardon scandal raged. Edwards seems to know that the life span of a scandal is six months, and that Bill will be back sooner rather than later as the major force in the party. So the meetings and the phone calls have already begun, though the stories on the subject have been short on details. The details aren’t necessary. Key donors in Hollywood and elsewhere will follow Bill’s cue. Clinton wants his Dems to win back the White House, so when he makes a decision, he’ll back it up to the hilt. Clinton’s got his man, Terry McAuliffe watching the staff and store over at the DNC. When Edwards proves himself (the Clintons believe you have to see a candidate on the trail to really judge the competitive instincts and the ability to take a punch), McAuliffe will get his orders. In the meantime, the Hollywood set is being nice to Kerry, but they are already panting over Edwards.
- The Judiciary Committee. The Majority Leader gets most of the ink in the Senate, unless you are a former first lady. There’s only one other committee that can be guaranteed a huge audience and a chance at national credentials overnight – the Judiciary Committee. Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O’Connor stayed on for another year in the aftermath of Bush vs. Gore, but both and perhaps other justices are expected to retire next year. Which gives Edwards and his colleagues on the committee the perfect chance to audition for the hearts and minds of the Democratic faithful as the Bush nominees take their lumps in front of a national television audience. These will be the first Supreme Court nominee hearings since the rise of the 24 hour cable beast, and a level of saturation coverage surpassing Condit level and approaching O.J. level is sure to follow, especially if the nominee had a beer before age 21 or some other horrible escapade in his or her past. When Edwards landed on Judiciary, I knew he was running.
If Edwards is tough enough (and he sure looks it), the early money has to be on him. The only open question is how formal is the deal with the Clintons. Hillary in the second spot on the ticket in 2004 means a level of enthusiasm within the Democratic Party which will be matched only by the level of vitriol within the GOP. It is not likely – though not impossible – that the Clintons will make their support contingent upon an explicit assurance of the second spot for Hillary. There is one factor arguing in favor of a formal quid-pro-quo that trades the help of the Clinton-McAuliffe machine now for a second slot for Hillary in July, 2004: If Edwards runs and wins with a different veep than Hil, the door to the White House would likely be closed until 2016. And we all know that neither Bill nor Hil could abide waiting that long to be back on top.
And folks thought that talk radio and cable television would have to get along without the Clintons. Thanks to the astonishing rise of a telegenic, young Southern Democratic “moderate,” they are back with us already.
Related offers:
In ‘The Embarrassed Believer’, Hugh Hewitt is reviving Christian witness in an age of unbelief and is available in WND’s online store.
