Edwards on set to launch poverty tour

[George Gervin's Afro]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0707/Edwards_to_announce_poverty_tour.html


Edwards to announce poverty tour


Can JRE pull off a JFK, or an RFK (asks Politico chief political writer Mike Allen, who is sharing guestblogging duties while Ben is on vacation)? John Edwards plans to announce Monday that he’ll take a break from fund-raising and campaigning in early-voting states next week for a three-day, eight-state, 12-city “Road to One America” tour aimed at calling attention to poverty in the deep South, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia and the Rust Belt. The campaign points out that none of the states he’ll visit has an early 2008 primary, and says Edwards won’t be doing rallies.

Instead, TV viewers will see Edwards in coal country, Edwards in a factory, Edwards on a farm, Edwards in a struggling neighborhood, Edwards in a school, Edwards in a health care clinic. “It’s an effort to show the rest of the country how 37 million Americans live their lives in poverty every single day,” an Edwards aide said. “It’s not only their workplaces -- it’s their homes and the places they get health care.”

The photogenic swing is reminiscent of John F. Kennedy’s repeated coal-country campaigning before the West Virginia primary of 1960. His overwhelming victory ended Catholicism as an issue in the campaign and brought national attention to Appalachian poverty. Twenty-eight years later, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis donned a hard hat and overalls for an hour-long tour of a West Virginia coal mine.

“By telling their stories to the rest of the nation, the tour will attempt to shed light on the new faces of poverty in America,” the Edwards campaign says in an announcement document. The former U.S. senator from North Carolina has a plan for “ending poverty in America within a generation” that includes an increase in the minimum wage, investments in rural community colleges, creation of 1 million short-term “stepping stone” jobs, and a program to encourage responsible fatherhood and fight teen pregnancy.

Edwards has been putting a new emphasis on his message of economic fairness as a way to make himself more than the anti-war candidate. He also wants to mop up union endorsements and get more traction among lower-income, working voters without a college education. But he’s so wealthy that he has struggled to mold a populist image.

Stop-by-stop information (along with a snide aside and an explanation of the RFK reference) after the jump.



Edwards will start next Sunday, July 15, with a walking tour of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. The three-day tour will officially begin the next day in New Orleans with a town hall in conjunction with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where he’ll kick off the day’s theme of “Rewarding Work and Ending Poverty in America.” Then he’ll head to Canton, Miss.; Marks, Miss.; Marianna, Ark.; and Memphis, Tenn., where he’ll give the first of two speeches.

On Tuesday, July 16, he’ll take his theme of “Strengthening Neighborhoods and Cities Rising” to Cleveland; Youngstown, Ohio, where he’ll give the second speech; and Pittsburgh.

The finale will be Wednesday, July, 18, with a theme of “Restoring Hope to Rural America.” He’ll stop in isolated southwest Virginia, then will end in Whitesburg, Ky., and Prestonsburg, Ky. That's the same Prestonsburg that was the final public stop by Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 on HIS iconic poverty tour.




I wonder if Edwards needs to not wear shoes when talking about the plight of the poor. So much has been made of his wealth and excesses yet somehow that is supposed to disqualify him from talkig about helping poor people. So I want to hear what exactly Edwards needs to do in order for him to be able talk about poverty.

[shelshor]

He could drop in for a trim & a shave at the barber shop on the courthouse square in a small Mississippi town

[Yonivore]

Isn't this a bit like Michael Moore launching a multi-state tour to discuss anorexia?

[George Gervin's Afro]

Isn't this a bit like Michael Moore launching a multi-state tour to discuss anorexia?


Ok. So if your fat you can't promote and help feed the starving?

[Yonivore]

Ok. So if your fat you can't promote and help feed the starving?
No, but if you're [rich] fat, you're probably not the best person to stand up and preach on the ills of poverty. Particularly when you get $1,250 haircuts, work for hedge funds in the off season, own a secluded -- other America -- multi-million dollar estate, and have never known what hunger was.

If I were John Edwards [::shudder:: I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth] and I wanted to make poverty the centerpiece of my candidacy, I would find someone who used to actually be poor, promote them as my new "poverty czar" and drag their ass all over the country talking about poverty.

Edwards strike me (and, probably, many Americans) as someone who's never actually sat down and visited with a poor person and probably doesn't have them in his circle of friends.

This whole act is just another wealth redistribution pandering scheme to gain votes.

[SA210]

No, but if you're [rich] fat, you're probably not the best person to stand up and preach on the ills of poverty. Particularly when you get $1,250 haircuts, work for hedge funds in the off season, own a secluded -- other America -- multi-million dollar estate, and have never known what hunger was.

If I were John Edwards [::shudder:: I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth] and I wanted to make poverty the centerpiece of my candidacy, I would find someone who used to actually be poor, promote them as my new "poverty czar" and drag their ass all over the country talking about poverty.

Edwards strike me (and, probably, many Americans) as someone who's never actually sat down and visited with a poor person and probably doesn't have them in his circle of friends.

This whole act is just another wealth redistribution pandering scheme to gain votes.
This is complete garbage. If you actually followed his work instead of trying to discredit him with stupid tactics, you would know that John Edwards regularly visits and meets with the poor. You're just afraid because he's a true candidate that could beat your conservative friends and would change this country for the better.

The dumbest thing I've heard in a while, that you can't talk about helping the poor just because your rich. :sleep

I'm voting for Edwards. He has the balls to campaign on something everyone else is afraid to campaign for. Helping the poor, a REAL moral issue. Congrats to him. If only more people had a heart.

EDWARDS 2008!

[xrayzebra]

This is complete garbage. If you actually followed his work instead of trying to discredit him with stupid tactics,



He does a good job of discrediting himself, he doesn't
need much help.

Did you get an office downtown yet to help on the
Hardburger project? It would have saved us taxpayers
a lot of money if you and our mayor had just moved to
San Diego.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

No, but if you're [rich] fat, you're probably not the best person to stand up and preach on the ills of poverty. Particularly when you get $1,250 haircuts, work for hedge funds in the off season, own a secluded -- other America -- multi-million dollar estate, and have never known what hunger was.

If I were John Edwards [::shudder:: I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth] and I wanted to make poverty the centerpiece of my candidacy, I would find someone who used to actually be poor, promote them as my new "poverty czar" and drag their ass all over the country talking about poverty.

I'm assuming then whichever president(s) whose campaign advocated treatment for retarded people or for people with other mental defects had retarded persons and schizophrenics trailing behind them all of the time.

Do you think poor people actually care who the hell is helping them?

All they want is somebody who has an effective strategy that can help them out of their situations, regardless of the extent of the persons wealth.


Edwards strike me (and, probably, many Americans) as someone who's never actually sat down and visited with a poor person and probably doesn't have them in his circle of friends.

It "strikes" you?

I could care less what strikes you (unless it has some force behind it - that'd be a relief) as it's all weightless speculation.

And who cares if he doesn't have many real "poor" friends?

Bush couldn't distinguish an Arab from a Mexican before he decided to invade Iraq.


This whole act is just another wealth redistribution pandering scheme to gain votes.

in your cynical perspective of things sure.

[SA210]

He does a good job of discrediting himself, he doesn't
need much help.

Did you get an office downtown yet to help on the
Hardburger project? It would have saved us taxpayers
a lot of money if you and our mayor had just moved to
San Diego.
I've always had an office downtown. Why don't you come by sometime. We could meet with the homeless. Maybe you can tell some of the kids how you feel as you watch them in need.

[xrayzebra]

I've always had an office downtown. Why don't you come by sometime. We could meet with the homeless. Maybe you can tell some of the kids how you feel as you watch them in need.


No need. I have you to take care of that. You do it your
way, I'll do it my way. And I could add, twice, I pay taxes
and and somehow those that are elected at every level of
government seem to think, as you do, that government
needs to be involved in charity. And that us that are
opposed to that concept never do anything for those that
really need help.

[SA210]

Edwards Announces "Road To One America" Tour As Part Of His Campaign To End Poverty In America

Jul 9, 2007 3:00 PM

Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, the John Edwards for President campaign announced its plan to take a break from its normal campaign schedule of events and take the campaign on the road for three days, through eight states and 12 towns and cities, in order to bring attention to the 37 million Americans living in poverty.
"Everyday, one in eight Americans wakes up in poverty," said Senator Edwards. "That's not okay. Today, we have Two Americas in our country – one America that has everything it needs and another that is struggling to get by. Our next president needs not only to understand the struggles facing the 37 million Americans living in poverty, but also have a plan to lift them up out of poverty. That is what this tour and my campaign are about – giving them a voice so that we can build One America, where every person has the opportunity to work hard and get ahead."

Beginning Monday, July 16th, the "Road to One America" tour will kick-off in New Orleans, Louisiana and travel more than 1,800 miles before ending on Wednesday, July 18th, in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where Senator Robert F. Kennedy concluded his 1968 200-mile tour of impoverished regions in Southeastern Kentucky. The tour also includes a stop in Marks, Mississippi, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched his 1968 Poor People's March to Washington, D.C. Along the way, Edwards will meet with residents devastated and displaced by Hurricane Katrina and with people who have experienced persistent poverty in the Deep South, the Mississippi Delta and rural Appalachia. Edwards will also visit communities in the Rust Belt region that have suffered from the loss of American manufacturing jobs and cities that are struggling to cope with both urban poverty and the rising problem of poverty.

With this tour, Edwards hopes to focus attention not just on problems, but also on solutions and all of the good work that is being done across the nation to help lift people out of poverty. By meeting with these Americans and telling their stories to the rest of the nation, the campaign intends to show the diversity of the problem of poverty in America. The new faces of poverty in America come from a wide variety of racial, ethnic and regional backgrounds – from urban, suburban and rural areas. They range in age from the very young to the very old. Some are suffering from disabilities, which prevent them from finding work, and many are hardworking men and women with full-time jobs who are still struggling to make ends meet. All too often they don't have access to the affordable health care, housing and education they need. And their numbers are growing. Edwards believes we all have a stake in doing something about our fellow Americans living in poverty and believes that working together we can help end poverty.

Edwards has made ending poverty in America a pillar of his campaign and laid out a plan to do so within 30 years. He has also outlined detailed plans to lift up working families by guaranteeing quality, affordable health care for every person in America, rewarding work by raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012, protecting workers' right to organize and making college more affordable. Born to working-class parents, Edwards understands the struggles facing working families and has dedicated his life to fighting for them. For the past two years, Edwards served as the Director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He joined with grassroots coalitions to help raise the minimum wage in six states in 2006 and has helped more than 20 national unions organize thousands of workers into unions.

The Road to One America tour will include by a robust online outreach effort, with daily video diaries and photos from Edwards and his staff and a "Road to One America" tour blog available on the campaign website, www.johnedwards.com (http://www.johnedwards.com/). The campaign's online grassroots component, One Corps, will also launch a "National Poverty Action Week" on July 16th to coincide with the beginning of the tour.

The "Road to One America" tour schedule is below:

Pre-Tour Event – Sunday, July 15

Walking tour of Lower 9th Ward with Senator Edwards
Day 1 – Monday, July 16: Rewarding Work & Ending Poverty in America

New Orleans, LA
"Good Morning America" Town Hall with Senator Edwards
Canton, MS
Marks, MS
Marianna, AR
Memphis, TN
Day 2 – Tuesday, July 17: Strengthening Neighborhoods & Cities Rising

Cleveland, OH
Youngstown, OH
Pittsburgh, PA
Day 3 – Wednesday, July 18: Restoring Hope to Rural America

Wise, VA
Norton, VA
Whitesburg, KY
Prestonsburg, KY
Members of the media are invited to join Edwards for the duration or any portion of the tour. Those interested in traveling with the campaign should contact Audrey Waters at (919) 636-3157 or [email protected] ([email protected]) for more information.


http://johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20070709-tour/

[George Gervin's Afro]

yes at this point i like edwards.. i was gung ho initially but I have wavered lately. he is still my first choice.........

[Jamtas#2]

If I were John Edwards [::shudder:: I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth] and I wanted to make poverty the centerpiece of my candidacy, I would find someone who used to actually be poor, promote them as my new "poverty czar" and drag their ass all over the country talking about poverty.

And if he did that you wouldn't then criticize him for promoting that person as a publicity stunt?

[George Gervin's Afro]

And if he did that you wouldn't then criticize him for promoting that person as a publicity stunt?


No Yoni would then criticize JE for using someone as a publicity stunt for political gain.

[SA210]

And if he did that you wouldn't then criticize him for promoting that person as a publicity stunt?

No Yoni would then criticize JE for using someone as a publicity stunt for political gain.
yep

[SA210]

The Road to One America - Poverty Tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5MMECuuyhY

[xrayzebra]

The Road to One America - Poverty Tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5MMECuuyhY


Well, Hair1 said he was poor once, when he was a young
child. Him and his family had to leave a restaurant because
his father said they could afford the prices. He felt so
humiliated and he doesn't want anyone else to suffer the
same fate.

Cant you just feel his pain. I am sure, if elected, he will
pass a law that requires all restaurants to adjust their
prices in accordance with ones' income.

Or just have the check delivered to closest table to the
poor people. Wont that be sweet.

[Spurminator]

http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/John-Edwards.jpg

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/john_edwards_vows_to_end_all_bad

[Yonivore]

Well, I thought this thread had died but, thanks to SA210 (whom I have on ignore), it's back up at the top so I'll throw another log on the fire.

The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin/registration/register&destination=login&nextstep=gather&application=reg30-politics&applicationURL=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601933.html) took a whack, the other day, at explaining why, despite his ardent efforts on behalf of poor Americans, John Edwards seems to be making so little headway in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like a few on the left, the Post's primary explanation is the adverse publicity Edwards received about his 28,000 square-foot house and his $400 haircuts.

But it's not as if these fairly recent developments have eroded Edwards' support. He's been pushing his two-Americas theme essentially non-stop since 2003 and has never gained any real traction. This is probably because Edwards is so transparently phony; a reality that was apparent long before the mansion went up and the haircuts were exposed.

Indeed, it's amazing that anyone ever took seriously Edwards' attempt to own this issue as a Democrat. Barack Obama worked as a community organizer in low-income neighborhoods in Chicago before he entered politics. Hell, even Hillary Clinton was strongly associated with liberal anti-poverty causes for years before she entered politics. John Edwards can point to no pre-political credentials on the anti-poverty issue nor, so far as I know, to any distinctive efforts in this area as a legislator. His credentials consist of speeches and photo opportunities undertaken in conjunction with his presidential campaigns.

But the Washington Post suggests that Edwards also has good ideas. Thus, Perry Bacon, Jr. writes: "Most of the ideas Edwards is offering to end poverty, such as increasing the minimum wage and integrating neighborhoods so they don't have lare concentrations of low-income people, have long been advocated by policy experts. . . ."

Bacon does not identify these experts. Moreover, the evidence (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DonaldLambro/2007/01/22/$725_a_truly_bad_idea) is that using the minimum wage in this fashion will lead to significantly higher rates of minority unemployment, and that gains among those who don't lose their jobs will likely be offset by a reduction in hours.

As to Edwards' pet idea of integrating neighborhoods, a prior Washington Post article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601322.html) (this one by Alec MacGillis) acknowledged that a major federal experiment started during the Clinton administration shows that dispersing poor families in this fashion does not improve earnings or school performance. The Post also reported that when this inconvenient truth was brought to Edwards' attention during his November 2005 symposium on poverty, he had no answer.

But with Edwards it's not about answers or ideas. It's about finding a niche -- the same quest that impels him to the left of Clinton and Obama on the war, which (unlike Obama) he supported when that position was popular.

I'm not surprised that some lefty bloggers (who are also highly niche-conscious) -- and through osmosis, those of you in here -- tend to buy, or at least accept, Edwards' act.

Just know, it makes you look foolish.

[SA210]

Well, I thought this thread had died but, thanks to SA210 (whom I have on ignore), it's back up at the top so I'll throw another log on the fire.

The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=admin/registration/register&destination=login&nextstep=gather&application=reg30-politics&applicationURL=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601933.html) took a whack, the other day, at explaining why, despite his ardent efforts on behalf of poor Americans, John Edwards seems to be making so little headway in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like a few on the left, the Post's primary explanation is the adverse publicity Edwards received about his 28,000 square-foot house and his $400 haircuts.

But it's not as if these fairly recent developments have eroded Edwards' support. He's been pushing his two-Americas theme essentially non-stop since 2003 and has never gained any real traction. This is probably because Edwards is so transparently phony; a reality that was apparent long before the mansion went up and the haircuts were exposed.

Indeed, it's amazing that anyone ever took seriously Edwards' attempt to own this issue as a Democrat. Barack Obama worked as a community organizer in low-income neighborhoods in Chicago before he entered politics. Hell, even Hillary Clinton was strongly associated with liberal anti-poverty causes for years before she entered politics. John Edwards can point to no pre-political credentials on the anti-poverty issue nor, so far as I know, to any distinctive efforts in this area as a legislator. His credentials consist of speeches and photo opportunities undertaken in conjunction with his presidential campaigns.

But the Washington Post suggests that Edwards also has good ideas. Thus, Perry Bacon, Jr. writes: "Most of the ideas Edwards is offering to end poverty, such as increasing the minimum wage and integrating neighborhoods so they don't have lare concentrations of low-income people, have long been advocated by policy experts. . . ."

Bacon does not identify these experts. Moreover, the evidence (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DonaldLambro/2007/01/22/$725_a_truly_bad_idea) is that using the minimum wage in this fashion will lead to significantly higher rates of minority unemployment, and that gains among those who don't lose their jobs will likely be offset by a reduction in hours.

As to Edwards' pet idea of integrating neighborhoods, a prior Washington Post article (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/06/AR2007050601322.html) (this one by Alec MacGillis) acknowledged that a major federal experiment started during the Clinton administration shows that dispersing poor families in this fashion does not improve earnings or school performance. The Post also reported that when this inconvenient truth was brought to Edwards' attention during his November 2005 symposium on poverty, he had no answer.

But with Edwards it's not about answers or ideas. It's about finding a niche -- the same quest that impels him to the left of Clinton and Obama on the war, which (unlike Obama) he supported when that position was popular.

I'm not surprised that some lefty bloggers (who are also highly niche-conscious) -- and through osmosis, those of you in here -- tend to buy, or at least accept, Edwards' act.

Just know, it makes you look foolish.
:sleep


I get it. If your rich, you can't help the poor. Weak. :lol

W has never been in combat or fought any war, so.......

[xrayzebra]

:sleep


I get it. If your rich, you can't help the poor. Weak. :lol

W has never been in combat or fought any war, so.......

Taking someone else's money, taxes, to help the
poor is noble. Like I have said before, how come you
don't just take a gun, rob a few people and help those
people under the bridge. No different than what
our government is doing.

Guess it does one thing, it frees up the bums time to
print signs on cardboard about being a vet and being
homeless and needing your money at the intersections.

Beats earning 8 bucks an hour working, right!

I have a real good idea, why don't you lobby to place
these people with mental problems back into
institutions where they belong instead of on streets.
It would be more beneficial to them and society.