Very Special Edition of JRE Buzz: JRE, Josh & Me

Hello BW Readers,

This is one of the most special days in the life of this blogger: to have 10 minutes of quality time with a great podcaster: John R. Edwards.

About 10 days ago, I had heard that JRE that he was going to be in Bloomington to visit some old friends and meet some new ones. I e-mailed Ryan Montoya at OAC and asked if there was a way I could see the Senator. Miraculously, Ryan was able to work me into JRE's very hectic schedule, after he was to be calling into Randi Rhodes show for a phone interview this afternoon.

Josh greeted me at the place and we chatted for a few minutes. He asked me if Ryan knew this or that. I met Eric D, a fairly new full-time staffer. Both were busy getting plane arrangements, faxes, and copies of speeches for upcoming events.

About 25 minutes later, JRE emerged, and we exchanged greetings. Immediately, he thanked me for coming to see him. I asked him how his day had been with his friends. He said it was good to see them. I asked him about his family. "They're doin' great. Thanks for asking," he replied. I mentioned I had seen him last 2 years ago in Iowa, as I knew he didn't recognize me right away. He asked me where I lived and what I did. I told him. He said "neat."

I told him I knew he would be at ACORN on July 9th. He said he was looking forward to it as they were great people. I concurred.

We sat down and chatted for a few minutes. I showed him a pic of Jackie R, him and me. He signed the back of the picture, which reads:

To Jackie and Becky: Thank you both so much. John Edwards

I also requested he sign the Four Trials book, in which he wrote: " To Becky, Thanks for all of your great work. John Edwards"

As an aside, I mentioned Jackie was looking forward to seeing him next week in Iowa.

It was my opportunity to tell him my personal reasons what why I supported his candidacy last time, and why the poverty theme reasonate with me, which had to do with my mom. He asked me where she lived. He was empathetic. At that point, I gave him one of my poverty bands that I had been saving for months to give him. I wore one as well.

It was nice to talk about his upcoming travels. I found out his talk with the Teamsters convention was in the morning, so he was about to get on a plane to Las Vegas. Then he had some fundraisers to do for some candidates in Seattle, a talk in Portland on Thursday. He turned to Josh and asked the full name of the organization again, and Josh and I both said, NOBEL, and it was Friday morning before going back to Seattle. JRE grinned and said to me, "You know my schedule better than I do."

We also talked about Gnomedex and how I was following the reactions of the attendees on the different blogs. I gave him and Josh a couple of suggestions, one which was to have Elizabeth piped in during the talk if possible. He liked the idea and asked Josh to look into it. I also told them that Elizabeth mentioned me specifically during her PDF talk, and how I appreciated it.

It was good to tell him how much OAC had meant to so many of us, that he and the OAC staff knew how to bring us together. This lead back to the trip to Iowa where I and others had met JRE from all of the country.

I also mentioned there had been "stuff" (meaning balderdash in tune) written about him, but I debunked it. JRE replied, "Thank you."

We talked about Elizabeth's birthday on Monday. I said that we all knew when it was but that I had a special reason for it: her birthday is the day before mine was. Josh smiled, and JRE asked, "Is that right?"

JRE knew it was time to go, so Josh snapped a couple of pics that you see here. And I snapped one of them.

JRE thanked me again for coming to see him. My last words: Thank you for all you do, Senator. Senator, when you are ready, I am. He smiled and said thank you.

They rode away in a white carriage. And I drove away and called my spouse.









Ryan, I owe you buddy.