8.06.2007

Edwards and the Blogosphere


The 2008 presidential race in the US promises to be intense and hard-fought, perhaps with a few curve balls thrown in. For the first time in many years, the race is open – the incumbent cannot run for another term and the sitting vice president is not seeking the nomination. Front-loading of the primaries presents another interesting twist. Will Iowa and New Hampshire maintain their influential role in the nomination process? This is the first in a series of posts about the fascinating world of US presidential elections.


Former Senator John Edwards seems to be the darling of liberal bloggers on sites such as MyDD and Daily Kos. His populist message resonates with the readers. His willingness to take on targets such as Fox News, which is widely reviled by liberal activists, certainly doesn’t hurt his popularity. Can Edwards harness this energy to win the nomination? Will his throwing red meat to the party’s activist base hurt him in the general election? Before any attempt to explore these questions, there is a far bigger question that needs to be answered. Is Sen. Edward’s populism a carefully crafted and marketed strategy to woo primary voters, one that is used and reused in stump speeches? Or is it real? If it is indeed real, what can he use to convince a jaded and cynical voter that these aren’t just words and campaign slogans?

The following extract from Media Matters paints Sen. Edwards as a far more conservative Democrat than his current campaign may suggest.

As Media Matters for America previously noted, although National Journal's 2003 vote ratings of senators placed Edwards fourth, that rating was based on only 40 of Edwards's Senate votes during 2003 and is not representative of his more moderate lifetime Senate voting record. In fact, as National Journal congressional reporter Richard E. Cohen pointed out in a July 9 article, Edwards's average National Journal "liberal score" during his five years in the Senate (1999-2003) is 75.7 percent, "a number that puts him in the moderate wing of his party," and is almost 20 points lower than the 2003 rating that Republicans are touting with the help of the conservative media. National Journal's Cohen also noted that in 1999, Edwards's National Journal "liberal score" placed him as the 31st most liberal senator, in 2000, Edwards ranked 19th, in 2001, he ranked 35th, and in 2002, he ranked as the 40th most liberal among all senators -- 15 to 36 spots lower than "the fourth most liberal senator" label that Republicans and the conservative media are pushing. As Cohen wrote, "From 1999 to 2002, Edwards had ranked among the more conservative Democratic senators. In 2002, only 11 of the 50 Senate Democrats voted more conservatively."

Is Sen. Edwards’ senate record more conservative because he represented North Carolina? Now that he is not representing a conservative state, is this the real John Edwards? One could certainly be conservative and populist at the same time, but if that’s the case, Sen. Edwards’ popularity among self-professed liberals is surprising.

Update: See JRE's Journey: Edwards Goes Left for detailed analysis of some of the issues raised by my post.

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