Their son was a teenager. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/2003-11-19-edwards-son_x.htm Edwards discusses impact of losing his son By Jill Lawrence, USA TODAY SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Sen. John Edwards has been defined by two experiences. He talks about one all the time: growing up the son of a mill worker in a small textile town in North Carolina. The other, the death of his 16-year-old son in a car accident seven years ago, he never mentions. But the tragedy is a central element in Four Trials, Edwards' new book about four poignant, important cases from his 20-year legal career. As he runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, the book is a window on the inner Edwards, a memorial to his late son and a political document that reinforces his image as a fighter for the underdog. Four Trials is timed for maximum political impact at a moment Edwards — badly behind in most states — needs a lift. The publicity blitz includes testimonials from author Richard North Patterson, a Web site pitching signed copies for $250, an appearance Tuesday on ABC's Good Morning America. In an interview with USA TODAY, Edwards, 50, and his wife, Elizabeth, 54, talked this week about how and why their son Wade came to be such a pivotal presence in Four Trials. He was so intertwined with two of the cases that "the book wouldn't have been complete without him," Edwards says as his campaign bus goes from Sioux City to Onawa. Edwards has agreed to talk about Wade to the news media once, with USA TODAY, but his wife does most of the talking. He sticks to matter-of-fact statements and steers clear of memories and emotions, lest they overwhelm him. But in the book — at times with Elizabeth's help — he writes movingly of his relationship with his son and his response to his death. The two were constant companions. They climbed Mount Kilimanjaro together when Wade was 15. They discussed Edwards maybe going into politics. Wade took his proud parents to Washington on a trip he won in an essay contest. He worked at his father's law office and told friends he hoped one day to practice with him. "The prospect of practicing law with my son was worth waiting for and worth living for," Edwards writes, even though Wade was only a junior in high school. "I could not see how such a thing could end." But it did. "Nothing in my life has ever hit me and stripped everything away like my son's death ... it was and is the most important fact of my life," writes Edwards, who wears Wade's Outward Bound pin on the campaign trail. Edwards and his wife went on to have two more children, ages 3 and 5, in addition to Cate, 21 and a college student. Edwards also decided to run for the Senate in 1998, and upset Republican Lauch Faircloth. In less than two years, he was on Al Gore's short list for vice president. Edwards refuses to say how or if his son's death is related to his political career. "That's personal and private to me, and I don't want to talk about it," Edwards says. Through Wade's story and the case studies, Four Trials gives emotional heft to a candidate who looks much younger than his age and whose polished stump speech reveals little about himself beyond his modest background. He has already put out a book, Real Solutions, about his policy ideas. This new one, Edwards says, is "about what I've spent my life doing and the way I see the world." Edwards sees the world through the eyes of his clients: people who have lots of courage, he says, but don't have high incomes and inside connections. They are prototypes of the "regular Americans" he vows to fight for as president. The book also suggests the intensity that made Edwards a national star among trial lawyers, the attorneys who specialize in representing clients in court. He immerses himself in medical textbooks, plows through documents, learns firsthand the details of his clients' medical needs and disabilities, even grooms and cares for one of them. "I was very personally and emotionally involved with the people I fought for," Edwards says. "They become part of your life." "We basically would turn him over to those families because they needed him," adds Elizabeth Edwards. "We knew that this was their one chance." Trial lawyers, who tend to oppose caps on legal awards and contribute money to Democrats, are a frequent target of Republicans. Though Edwards says he didn't plan it, his book could soften the impact of such attacks on him. There are few shades of gray in these cases. The victims are innocents up against medical, corporate and institutional negligence, indifference and incompetence. Their lawyers are portrayed as saviors. Wade figures most importantly in the cases of two children: Jennifer Campbell, who has cerebral palsy as a result of hospital personnel ignoring signs that she was in trouble in the womb; and Valerie Lakey, whose intestines were sucked out when she sat on a wading pool drain that was not correctly attached. She will need intravenous feeding and medication for half of every day for the rest of her life. A jury awarded Valerie $25 million in compensatory damages. Jennifer won $4.25 million. Jennifer at nearly 6 could not walk and could barely speak. Wade, three months younger, was playing basketball and learning to read. "I can't look at him now without thinking of her," Edwards told the jury. Wade was an even more fundamental presence in the Lakey case. It was the first case Edwards took when he came back to work six months after Wade's car flipped over on a highway to the beach, killing him. He was, he writes, working through his own loss. "I would speak about Valerie's struggles day after day and those she would face in the years ahead, but a voice inside me was speaking too of the lovely years my son had lost, even the hours he had lost, and I was putting him to bed at night when he was still a child," he writes. "It was a very cathartic experience for him," Elizabeth Edwards says. "He was not only representing this case, he was on his own personal journey." In his book, Edwards traces his interest in politics to reversals he endured from legislators. He'd win a case that set a precedent; they would change a law to minimize the impact. The message he took was that "if you can't help enough people being a lawyer, consider being a lawmaker." And if you can't help enough people being a lawmaker, consider being a president. Edwards' focus in the presidential race brings to mind the Lakey case. As he "struggled to come alive again," Edwards writes, "I needed to do something strong and good, and I would give it to Valerie — and also in my own private way to my son. I wanted to offer them tribute, and it would be worthy."
I love it how the liberals rush to the defense of one of the greediest personal injury trial lawyers this country has ever seen. This man, Johnny Edwards, attacks people who make honest mistakes, demagogues the issue by over-dramatizing the victim's suffering, and extorts tens of millions of dollars out of job-creating corporations. Why does he do this? To enrich himself. To amass a fortune at the expense of consumers who must pay higher insurance costs and higher prices. Johnny Edwards extorted $30 million out of a good honest company that simply had one defective product (the jacuzzi case). Is that type of greed really necessary coming from someone who is the 'champion of ordinary people'? Of course not. It is a thinly veiled ploy to line his purse with gold, all the while camouflaging it as 'helping the ordinary person'. Ridiculous. Corporate shakedowns that the trial lawyers create are what destroys profits. This destroys savings accounts for middle america and destroys jobs. How can anyone think that Johnny Edwards does this country a service with his extortion schemes? Wall Street will puke all over him. 6 years as a member of the senate, one failed presidential primary campaign (in which he won a mere 1 state (his birth state)) and magically he is ready to be a VP candidate? Pure folly by Forbes Kerry. He is an amateur. A rookie. He is to Forbes Kerry what Quayle was to H.W. Bush -- a liability.
Quite a stretch, even by your ridiculous standards, T_J. Edwards is the anti-Quayle. He's got a personality, he gives a great stump speech, he won't foolishly try to make sitcom characters a political issue, and (most importantly) he can actually spell the word "potato"!
Aside from all your other statements, as accurate as we have come to expect from you, with this one I can see your thinking. They're both relatively young...both...er...bipedal....both have two eyes....umm...both consume nourishment in order to sustain themselves...let's see...both...ran for VP....ok....both..ok, I give up. Aside from young and running for VP, which also applied to Gore and others, can you tell me the similarities?
Wall Street already does not like the selection: http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/06/markets/election_edwards/index.htm Wall Street no fan of Edwards Traders, favoring Bush team, dislike Edwards as VP but don't register displeasure -- yet. July 6, 2004: 10:53 AM EDT By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money senior writer NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's choice of a running mate may just help him win the election in November, and that could make Wall Street very nervous. Tuesday morning, Sen. Kerry, D-Mass., chose Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., to run with him for the White House. Edwards was seen by most Democrats -- and by some political analysts -- as a natural choice: a young, energetic campaigner from the deep south, a counterweight to Kerry's staid, New England demeanor. In a tight race with President Bush, every little edge could help. "I thought all along Edwards was the logical choice," said Greg Valliere, political economist for Schwab Washington Research. "He's so talented as a campaigner, and he brings a lot of enthusiasm, sex appeal and pizzazz to the ticket." "From a market standpoint, I think this would reinforce the view that Kerry could win," he added. And Wall Street is probably not too thrilled about that; stock investors have grown to expect policies from the Bush administration that are friendly to businesses and to investors. What's more, Edwards spent much of his campaign for president last year and early this year taking a populist stance that veered at times into protectionism, according to some critics. And Edwards is a former plaintiff's trial lawyer, which could lead Wall Street to fear a potential Kerry presidency would be unfriendly to tort reform. John Edwards On the other hand, one of Kerry's other finalists for the VP slot, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, a long-time ally of organized labor, may have been even more unpalatable to Wall Street than Edwards. "Earlier this morning, the rumored news was that it would be Gephardt, and I think the markets would have had a little tougher time digesting that, especially with his [long-held] protectionist stance," Yra Harris, partner at Cadent Financial, told CNNfn. "They would have viewed that as a bigger negative." In any event, the election is still about four months away, an eternity in political terms, so few money managers are likely juggling their portfolios due to Kerry's VP choice yet -- even if they dislike it. Wall Street had bigger fish to fry Tuesday morning. That's because oil prices rose again, software firm Veritas warned on second-quarter profit, Lehman Bros. cut its rating on the semiconductor sector and worries have mounted about a slowdown in economic and earnings growth. "I don't know that money managers controlling billions of dollars are going to make major choices based on this minor development," said Larry Wachtel, market analyst with Wachovia Securities. "[Tuesday's] trading will be drab because of meat and potatoes issues, not a Kerry/Edwards combo."
I like Edwards and I think he will make a fine vice president. Of course, if there's another terrorist attack, it won't matter. It'll be Bush in a landslide. Which means the people protecting us from harm are the ones who benefit most from it. That's either horrifying or ironic. I haven't decided which yet.
Wow, the way guys like T_J talk about it, you'd think somebody just cut their finger or bumped their head or something.
"In the Senate four years – and that is the full extent of public life – no international experience, no military experience, you can imagine what the advertising is going to be next year,’ Mr. Kerry said. With a grin, he added: ‘When I came back from Vietnam in 1969 I don’t know if John Edwards was out of diapers then. Well, I’m sure he was out of diapers." Liberals, can you guess who said this a mere 6 months ago? We all know that John McCain was the first choice. Johnny Edwards is nothing more than sloppy seconds.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess future President Kerry. If we're gonna play games like this, don't give us the answer!!
Hey at least he's had 4 years in the senate. I know a certian president who didn't even have that and got selected...
One evening while he was campaigning for the Senate in North Carolina, Edwards was faced with a choice of several events he might attend. An advance man suggested, ‘Maybe we ought to go to the reception for Leah Rabin’ Edwards responded, ‘Who’s she?’ ‘Yitzhak Rabin’s widow,’ replied the aide. ‘Who was he?’ asked Edwards. What a shame McCain turned you down, libs! By the way, have you seen the latest campaign commercials? It's titled: First Choice -- and it ain't talkin 'bout Edwards.
Read it and weep, Mr. Ham-Fisted Sarcasm posing as wit: http://slate.msn.com/id/2088902/ The Gaffes of John Edwards His most embarrassing quotes, in context. By William Saletan and Chris Suellentrop Posted Friday, Sept. 26, 2003, at 7:59 AM PT Slate continues its short features on the 2004 presidential candidates. Previous series covered the candidates' biographies, buzzwords, agendas, worldviews, best moments, worst moments, and flip-flops. This series assesses each candidate's most embarrassing quotes, puts them in context, and explains how the candidate or his supporters defend the comments. Today's subject is John Edwards. Quote: "One evening while he was campaigning for the Senate in North Carolina, Edwards was faced with a choice of several events he might attend. An advance man suggested, 'Maybe we ought to go to the reception for Leah Rabin.' Edwards responded, 'Who's she?' 'Yitzhak Rabin's widow,' replied the aide. 'Who was he?' asked Edwards" (Charles Peters, Washington Monthly, June 2003). Charge: Many critics regard Edwards as a lightweight. During an appearance on Meet the Press, he "did not display a command of the information a president should know," Peters wrote. Peters cited the Rabin anecdote—"a story recently told to me by a reliable source"—as "less than reassuring" about Edwards' readiness to be president.
Nevermind, I found one. http://slate.msn.com/id/2088902/ Of course, it's all heresay. He denies ever being at an event with Leah Rabin.
