Mid-week Edition of JRE Buzz (18)

Greetings BW readers,

I was away for a week caring for a friend who had same day surgery and needed a caregiver to be around. Thus, I have been remiss in posting more buzz about John Edwards for nearly a week, other than a snippet here or there.

(photo find: Machka, from Southern Hope ; original: Will Kincaid/AP)

JRE in Bismarck on 8/9/2006; week ago. Wow, seems like enternity! :-)

Michele Bair does a lot of good diaries about JRE on OAC blog, but also at Daily Kos, MyDD, and the DU. I'm posting the link to the DU because there is time to still recommend the thread. She really enjoys being a citizen journalist.


MN Publius has some great photos of the rally Edwards attended for Amy Klobuchar last week. She sounds like she is a good speaker as he is and inspires the crowd. I liked though one of the photo captions, which was, "Edwards takes the stage and does what he does best, remind us of why we're Democrats." You got that right, babe.

Right Voices has a poll going to pick fav Dem candidate for 2008. How odd since it is RWNB. I voted anyway for John Edwards.

Mitch Radcliffe, the Gnomedex attendee who suggested that JRE have a citizen journalist/blogger follow him around his next campaign, posted a link to a straw poll being conducted by the New Republic, had this to say about JRE recently:

John Edwards for president? A straw poll of TNR readers:

So the question to you is: Does John Edwards have a shot at the presidency in 2008?
Yes. He does. So do a lot of people.

For those of you wondering, I have had follow-up contact from the Edwards team after I suggested at Gnomedex they open their campaign to the world. No definite direction yet, but these people are thinking about the right things.

I haven't decided to support him over other Democrats, but Edwards certainly has some of the intellect and charisma that made Bill Clinton president.

Takes time to get to know John Edwards, Mitch. Hope you will take him to task on your suggestion.

Today's Hotline mentioned that JRE was going to campaign with Ned Lamont tomorrow. Good deal--both for mentioning it and for Ned. Be on the lookout for another citizen journalist post and vlog from Michele Bair as she will be attending the rally. Aldon Hynes, who is a technical consultant, has contacted Michele on vlogging the event. He also blogs on Greater Democracy, and had this to say about his candidate and about Edwards:"

Now that Ned has won the primary, sending ripples across the country, the
Democratic 2008 Presidential candidates are lining up to find ways to help Ned and thereby help their Presidential aspirations. John Edwards was the first to call Ned Lamont and offer his congratulations. Hillary Clinton was the first to have her leadership PAC cut a check to Ned’s campaign. Wes Clark was the first to send out a mass mailing asking people to sign a petition requesting that Lieberman drop his third party bid. John Kerry has now sent out an email urging people to contribute to Ned’s campaign.

Tomorrow, the next part of the game begins with John Edwards showing up in Connecticut to campaign for Ned Lamont. You can be sure that other 2008 hopefuls will soon follow suit. The Connecticut voters will get a special opportunity to meet and speak with these candidates.

JRE is campaigning with Heath Shuler, a NC congressional candidate, next week. I expect reports from NCDem and Nan on that event.

United Steel Workers reported yesterday that, "John Edwards, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina and vice presidential candidate, has written a letter to Alan Hippe, CEO and president of Continental Tire's North American subsidiary, to express his concern over the German company's alleged violations of U.S. labor laws and intent to gut health insurance for hundreds of retirees and their families at the Charlotte, North Carolina plant." Not surprised given JRE stands shoulder to shoulder with most of the unions. He's spot on this one, and sounds like CT's NA subsidiary, albeit it probably has problems paying their bills, needs to rethink a win-win strategy.

I think that's the mid-week news for now.

More buzz l8tr...

Tags: John Edwards, JRE, JRE Buzz (18), Ned Lamont, Heath Shuler, Hotline, MN Publius, Michele Bair, citizen journalism, vlogging, One America Committee, OAC blog, Democratic Underground, Greater Democracy, Radcliffe Blog, Gnomedex, Southern Hope