JRE Buzz (6)

Oh, it's buzzing again today.

News:
Senator Edwards and poverty as his signature issue is one of the web exclusives in Time magazine today. JRE is interviewed, and here's the lead paragraph. (photo credit: Time)

John Edwards may well end up a candidate for president in 2008, but for now, he's director of the new Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Since the last election, John Kerry's running mate has spent much of his time speaking around the country about the 37 million Americans who live under the poverty line. He has also supported Justice for Janitors campaigns and other efforts to address the struggles of low-wage workers. He spoke with TIME's Jeremy Caplan about his thoughts on poverty and why he's made it his signature issue.

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OK, you all, help me understand how HIllary Clinton leads in a Michigan poll about 2008 Presidential chances, as recorded by News Max:

"Among Democrats, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton led with 32 percent, former Vice President Al Gore got 19 percent – up from 15 percent in the last poll – former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards received 40 percent and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold both got 7 percent. Other potential candidates received less than 3 percent."

Now, either the writer got the math wrong, or I did, but isn't 40% more than 32%?

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More anti-Hillary stuff, but at least JRE gets mentions for his corrected stance on the war and for his work in the Netroots/Net Neutrality, with Hillary lagging behind in trying to court the bloggers. As Josh Gerstein penns on the New York Sun:

Last week, a former senator from North Carolina who is considering a presidential bid in 2008, John Edwards, sent a similar message to his followers. "On the Internet, big corporations are on equal footing with everyday people. And it needs to stay that way," he said.

Echoing themes from his 2004 presidential bid, Mr. Edwards warned darkly of a plan to create two Americas on the Web. "Special interests are pushing bills through Congress that would divide the Internet in two. Corporate deals would determine which Web sites would run incredibly fast and which ones would barely run at all," he wrote.

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Robert Scheer's article at Huffington Post in which Hillary is straddlin' the Iraq war fence, and Dems don't like it a bit. JRE is mentioned along with Feingold and Kerry. Good company to have.

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American Street, one of the places you will find Iddybud and Anonymoses, two Tar-Heel Tavern bloggers that I adore along with Coturnix, has a post about how GOP House lawmakers give themselves raises, but steal money from the working poor. Frustrating for all of us.

Well, we know working poor is going to mention JRE somewhere. Here it is:

"A moderate Dem is Jon Tester, Stephanie Herseth, Howard Dean, Bill Richardson, Harry Reid, John Edwards and John Kerry. Though some of them have strayed to the right briefly, all of them have retained most democratic principles and considerable ethical foundations throughout their elective careers."

Well, that's true, but here's what's interesting. The first comment on the post read:

"If all the big Dems in the picture right now, my hopes are highest for Edwards, who really is walking the walk. I wish I didn’t think “DLC” when I thought of him. I’m working very hard to believe that he’s seen the light. The biggest point in his favor with me is that Jude believes in him and I believe in her.

He’s willing to talk about poverty and solutions to poverty. He openly supports not only unions the but idea of unions ( there’s a difference). I’ve heard that he didn’t want to concede 2004 when Kerry did. He doesn’t do enough about voter-verified paper ballots and proper audits for my taste, but it’s possible that he learned from that election and is a proponent of election reform that includes VVPB."

I'm with you, blogger.

Finally...

Elizabeth Edwards posted a really thoughtful piece about pardons and accountability on OAC blog. It's easy to agree with her position. Speaking of...I found a clip of her at PDF. Thanks, Blip TV dinarebecca for this clip, entitled "Elizabeth Edwards on politicians blogging without being edited." (logon may be required, and I had to use headphones for the audio). You look good, Elizabeth!

For more comprehensive news--a JRE News Digest--click here. OAC Regulars Mbair and NCDem design and write it each Sunday (give a day or two). It's a great place to find out about OAC News too.

More buzz l8tr..

see also JRE Buzz(5), JRE Buzz(4)