According to PoliticMo, Todd Akin kicked off his campaigning today by drawing comparisons between “two Americas”:

“One of the things that propelled me to take a look at running for the United States Senate was predominantly that question of what America we’re going to have, and I believe 2012 was a hinge,” he said. “One is what you see now. We have steered a course that is going to take us to something like Greece.”

The other, Akin said, “is limited government so people can get jobs, and more American energy … less federal government, [so] there would be more freedom.”

Never mind that the U.S. situation isn’t remotely like that of Greece  – or the even more obscure question of what kind of “hinge” 2012 represents – I think that Akin should be wary of the two Americas imagery which was most notably used by John Edwards. By bringing it up, he also suggests the most appealing aspect of Edwards populist appeal.

No matter what you might think of Edwards, he played the two Americas trope like a master when he introduced it during his stint as John Kerry’s vice-presidential running mate and later during his aborted 2008 campaign. Compare Edwards imagery to Akin’s verbally awkward and logically incoherent formulations above:

I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people I grew up with. For two decades, I stood with kids and families against big HMOs and big insurance companies. When I got to the Senate, I fought those same fights against the Washington lobbyists and for causes like the Patients’ Bill of Rights. I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John [Kerry] to make America stronger. And we have much work to do, because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas… [applause] one, for all of those people who have lived the American dream and don’t have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else who struggle to make ends meet every single day. It doesn’t have to be that way…

I know which conception of the “two Americas” stirs me the most, and I bet that I know which resonates most with lots of middle and working class voters. Edwards may have been a fool in his personal life, but he expressed a generous and courageous view of public life when he spoke of the two Americas.  If Akin, however, continues to play on the theme in the ham-fisted way above, it’ll do little but emphasize the mean-mindedness of the ideology he serves and the dishonest way that he does so. Akin just doesn’t have the intellectual or verbal skills to appropriate Edwards masterful imagery, but is only capable of besmirching its shine.

Last sentence edited for clarity.

…what an ignoranamus.

Have we mentioned recently that the media in our nation really sucks? David Gregory of MSRNC breathlessly recycles the meme.

David Gregory on Edwards: “Is this another skeleton in the Democratic closet that Barack Obama must struggle to overcome?”

On the August 8 edition of MSNBC’s Race for the White House, host David Gregory baselessly suggested that former Sen. John Edwards’ (D-NC) disclosure of an extramarital affair has some relevance to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign….

http://mediamatters.org/static/flash/mmfaplayer.swf

What does this have to do with the price of beer in Germany? The hand wringing and pearl clutching are just too much. Uh, David, while you’re at it, are you ever going to question McSame about his past? Just asking.

There are two breaking news stories today. Any guesses which one leads the cable news talking heads?

John Edwards

Russia and Georgia

Any guesses about which one portends a major threat to our existence as a republic, or for that matter, the existence of humanity? Hint: it’s not the first story.

Given my newfound preference for Barack Obama in Missouri’s Feb. 5th primary, I thought it only fitting that I go cover his speech in the Edwards Jones Dome Friday night. Luckily for me, the Obama campaign reached out to local bloggers late last week, and I got credentialed as press. I say luckily for me, because over 20,000 people packed the floor of the Dome, and I got to stay free of the crush of people by camping out in the roomy press section. That’s right, 20,000 people showed up, even with slushy roads, and Mardi Gras festivities and a Blues game in town. It made for an interesting mix on the Metrolink to and from the Dome, that’s for sure.

I’ve got to head to Springfield for the day, so I’ll post some quick thoughts below the flip. I’ll have a fuller description later tonight.  

• As the crowd was building, a campaign staffer directed the crowd to get involved by pulling out their cell phones and texting “MO” to a number. I’m not sure if this just got them signed up as a volunteer or directed them to call a number, a la the giant Oprah phone banks in Iowa and South Carolina. Either way, it’s a smart way to grab people while you’ve got their attention.
• I wasn’t the only John Edwards fan in attendance. I ran into two of my best volunteers, and they in turn had seen a couple more. In the VIP section, I noticed some labor people who I last saw standing on the stage behind Edwards at the Carpenters Hall. Also, Obama thanked Edwards in his speech for talking about the issues that mattered to people and said that John would continue to have an important voice in the Democratic Party. A big cheer went out from the crowd on that point.
• I hadn’t listened to a full speech by Obama before, but he also included some of Edwards’ focus on poverty. At one point he exclaimed, “You should not be poor if you’re working in America!”
• From coverage of Obama, you get the sense that he only deals in airy slogans and abstractions, but he gave plenty of policy details and personal stories in his speech last night. He talked about closing Guantanamo and restoring habeas corpus (to the biggest applause of the night short of the last swell of his speech,) and he had a lot of specifics in his domestic agenda, like a $4000 tuition credit for every college student who commits to community service, tax breaks for Americans who make under $75,000/year and a minimum wage increase indexed to inflation.

Gotta run. I’ll have more after the Super Bowl tonight.

I’ve decided to support Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s primary. If you want to do the same, please go to Obama’s Missouri website right now to find out how you can help.  One easy way is to make calls from your home using this handy tool.

More on my reasoning below the flip.

I don’t think it’s any big secret that I am a huge Edwards supporter. I’ve given him a good deal more money than I could afford; I volunteered throughout this past year as a One Corps captain; I traveled to Iowa in the heat and in the snow and ice to knock doors for him. If he had stayed in the race, I would likely be making phone calls on his behalf right now instead of writing a post.

But now John Edwards has decided to drop out of the race in order to allow the field to coalesce around a single Democratic candidate, since the Republicans seem to be doing the same around John McCain. And I have a choice; I can vote for Edwards despite the fact that he’s no longer seeking the nomination, or I can vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Staying at home isn’t an option.

If I really thought that there were no differences between Obama and Clinton, I would vote for Edwards. But while I feel much more comfortable with Clinton than I did at the beginning of the primary, there are significant differences between the two of them. Obama’s more likely to undertake diplomacy in resolving conflict and to withdraw all troops from Iraq. He’s more likely to press on campaign finance and ethics reform. He’s proposed a set of technology policies that are as far reaching as experts could imagine, and frankly, they blow Clinton’s proposals out of the water. And Obama’s emphasis on process reforms could yield more substantive results for progressives later on down the line, much as Progressives in the early 20th century paved the way for FDR’s New Deal decades later.

Now, Barack Obama is not the progressive messiah. Nominating and electing him will not solve by itself the many deep problems in our society. Obama will need to be pushed to live up to his campaign promises, and we’ll also need to do a lot of work to improve his ideas on the environment, like correcting his openness to “clean” coal and nuclear power. But the same can be said about Clinton. And don’t get me started on the nightmare that would ensue from the election of yet another Republican president.

Whatever you decide to do, whether you support Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Dodd, or any of the other Democratic candidates who threw their hat in this year, remember to stay involved on Tuesday and beyond. This year in Missouri, we could see a Democratic president, a Democratic Congress, a Democratic governor, and a Democratic state legislature, but it’s not going to happen without your participation.  

According to CNN, Senator John Edwards is dropping out of the presidential race. It was an uphill struggle from the beginning, and he fought hard just to stay in the race this long. As he was just in Missouri campaigning hard, and field staff just arrived to help get out the vote, this is a total surprise to me. I hope and pray that everything is well with Elizabeth, and that this decision to end the campaign had nothing to do with a change in her health.

Consider this an open thread.  

Over 1,000 Southwest Missourians came to see John Edwards at  the Teamsters Hall in Springfield, MO yesterday evening. His speech was similar to the recent one (described here), where he hammered home a twin message of battling corporate greed and creating economic hope for the middle class. He did also comment on the SOTU speech and Bush’s stimulus plan, saying that it leaves out tens of millions of Americans and that it will have little effect for months.

At least one member of the audience had a strong reaction:

After hearing Edwards, Davidson was asked to comment on what he had heard. He couldn’t. There were tears in his eyes. Regaining his composure, he said: “What impressed me the most about his speech was when he said he hadn’t taken a dime from a lobbyist. John McCain can’t say that.”

John Edwards will be returning to Missouri today to give a speech in Jeff City. I like the fact that Edwards is concentrating on a heavily Republican area of the state. As a practical matter, he needs to stay above 15% in a congressional district to get delegates for the district, and he’s visiting two in two days. The more votes he picks up here, the more he gains for the convention.

More than that, he’s transmitting a strong Democratic message with a vision of economic hope and opportunity in an area of the state that needs to hear it unfiltered from a prominent Democrat. And John Edwards does that as well as anybody.

John Edwards at the press availability after the speech

As a strong Edwards supporter, it had not occurred to me that John Edwards might have a problem filling the Carpenters Union Hall. I badly wanted to see him speak here; naturally there would be many people like me. But early Saturday morning, at about 7:00 am waiting for the bus in single digit cold, I started to realize, “I am not a normal person.” Normal people don’t go out into the freezing morning cold to see a longshot presidential candidate; normal people sip their hot coffee in their warm living room watching morning TV. Better yet, normal people stay snuggled under warm blankets.

My fears were allayed when I arrived; there were already 30 people standing in line waiting for the doors to open 45 minutes later for a speech that wasn’t set to start until over 2 hours from then. That line quickly doubled and then tripled, and after doors opened, the room swelled with over 1000 people spilling into the foyer and into an overflow room in the back.  

A row of speakers warmed up the crowd. Alderman Stephen Gregali, St. Louis American City Editor Alvin Reid, State Senator Tim Green, State Senator Wes Shoemyer, House Minority Whip Connie Johnson, St. Louis Carpenters Council President Terry Nelson, and Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell each in turn made fiery speeches almost equal in passion to John Edwards himself. The main points that came across were: “John Edwards can win a general election against even John McCain” and “John Edwards is a fighter for the middle class of America.” Rep. Connie Johnson made some of these points, but she emphasized the personal connection John Edwards has with Missouri, as he has come back to Missouri several times since 2004 to campaign for downticket Dems and for ballot initiatives like the minimum wage increase.

St. Louis American City Editor Alvin Reid after the speech

State Senator (and family farmer) Wes Shoemyer

Attorney General candidate Rep. Jeff Harris works the crowd. He is not endorsing a presidential candidate.

John Edwards himself did not disappoint. Making his way through a throng to the right of the stage, he took the stage to deafening applause. My colleague hotflash, who was also in attendance, made the following notes:

“I have never taken a DIME from a lobbyist or a special interest group.”

“When did our party become the party of big money? When did we become the party that takes money from drug companies? from insurance companies? from Washington lobyists? The candidate taking more money from Washington lobbyists, Democrat or Rep., is not a Rep. It is a Democrat. The dandidate taking more money from drug companies, Democrat or Rep., is not a Rep. It’s a Democrat. Let me just say this, as your candidate and your nominee for president, that will not be me.”

E referred to Obama’s praise of Reagan as pres of change.  Reagan is “no example for change.” He did “everything in his power to break the organized labor movement.” he changed the tax structure to favor the wealthy. he deregulated industry as far as environmental laws.

(I don’t think he actually used Obama’s name for the following, but the reference was clear.) “we don’t really have to fight. You know, if you’re good to these people, if you’re nice,” you can get along with them. You can’t “nice these people to death.”

E concerned re global warming. Americans 4 % world population, use 25 % of its energy. Wants national cap on cargon emissions and make polluters pay.

Unlike Cl. and Ob. “dead against” building more nuclear power plants” and against building more coal-fired plants until  technology to clean them up can be used.

He wants to ask Americans to be “patriotic about something other than war.”

We must conserve. You “can’t spend and innovate your way of of this problem.”

Wants to stand on White House lawn and actually say the word “union”.

Minimum wage is finally $7.25. Ought to be at least $9.50.

“The first year that I am president I will end this war in Iraq.” no more combat missions, no permanent bases

“Suppose we had a president that believed in the United States Constitution and the bill of rights.” He’d close Guantanamo. no more illegal spying on the Amer. people. “No more debate in America about what kind of torture is permissible.”

“NAFTA CAFTA and these kinds of trade policies, they exist only for the purpose of destroying Amer. jobs.” E would “close that tax loophole that gives tax breaks to Amer. cos. sending jobs overseas.”

Health care woman finds lump in breast. what is she supposed to do? There’s no chemotherapy in emergency rooms.

Exxon $40 billion profit last year–world record for any corp.

Health insur. co. exec made $200 million

Conclusion: His parents and grandparents would have done anything to give him the chance at a better life. Everyone in audience has experienced that. We must take the reins and offer that same possibility to our children and grandchildren.

For a fuller picture of the speech, this video of his speech the previous night in Oklahoma City is very similar:

All in all, it was an electric atmosphere. I got the feeling from talking to people in the crowd that the majority of them were already committed Edwards supporters, which led to an even more charged response than there otherwise would have been. The task now for the Edwards campaign is mobilize these people and use that energy to bring others on board.

( – promoted by Clark)

John Edwards will be speaking at the Carpenters Hall in St. Louis on Saturday morning, and I’m pretty jazzed up about that. I’ve seen him fielding tough questions in smaller rooms, like at the YearlyKos breakout session, which is honestly the ideal way to see a candidate. But I haven’t seen him give a longer stump speech in person yet, and at this stage, he’s firing on all cylinders. So if you’re in the neighborhood of St. Louis, you should check him out. Doors open at 8 AM.

The other exciting John Edwards-related event happening this weekend is a virtual one not even initiated or coordinated by the campaign. A Daily Kos diarist, KingOneEye, came up with the wildly ambitious goal of raising $7 million dollars for Edwards in a day (otherwise known as a $7 million moneybomb.) With a fundraising policy that precludes him from taking money from PACs and lobbyists, and campaign rhetoric that’s sure to turn off the industry donors, it’s up to the grassroots to raise the money. Not to mention the publicity for a candidate who lacks media coverage, $7 million would be a huge haul and a shot in the arm. I have no idea whether John Edwards fans can attain this goal, but I’m going to do my part and chip in $50.

If you support John Edwards and his fight for the middle class, put in $25 dollars, at least. Your contribution will be matched by public financing up to $250, effectively doubling it.

Donate today!

UPDATE: More from the guy who proposed the moneybomb in the first place.

Perhaps.

How else to explain the insurgent popularity of Mike Huckabee?

There is always a populist somewhere in the Democratic field, at least early on.   John Edwards has tapped into  a vein of traditional Democratic working-class and man-of-the-people appeals; and as the message seems to be catching on this election cycle, other Democratic candidates are scurrying to don the populist cloth.    Even Hillary.  “The wealthy and the well-connected have had a president for seven years,” she told a crowd in Ottumwa last night. “Meanwhile, most Americans have seen their incomes stall.”

But I honestly don’t  think I can place a single Republican populist in the Republican field,  ever.  I have certainly never seen one with the support Huckabee is currently enjoying.

The Huckabee campaign presents a real opportunity for head-scratching on the part of the bought-and-paid-for corporatists of the  Republican Party, which has traditionally been business friendly at the expense of all other interests.

None of the other Republicans candidates have taken up the charge.  In fact, Frederick of Hollywood stuck to the script (there’s a writer’s strike on, you know) and continued to insist that “[N]ot enough has been done to tell what some call the greatest story never told, and that is that we are enjoying a period of growth right now.”

It doesn’t hurt the populist message any that oil hit a hundred bucks a barrel the day before Iowans caucus.   John Edwards immediately seized on the price of oil and incorporated it into his campaign message the day before the first votes are cast.  “Today’s report that the price of oil has reached $100 a barrel is just another example of how corporate greed is squeezing the middle class,” said Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, in a statement. At a packed coffeehouse in downtown Iowa City yesterday, he asked the crowd, “Are you going to let corporate greed steal your children’s future?”

That message can’t help but hit home in a state where towns are far-flung, and farms dot the landscape.  And every one of those farms has at least a couple of 250-gallon tanks (one for gas, one for diesel) that have to be filled up regularly, and there is no buy-in-bulk discount.    (Those Massey-Fergusson and John Deere tractors and combines that plant and harvest a lot of the food you buy at Albertson’s and Safeway get fueled up at home, not in town at the gas station.)

Huckabee frequently cites escalating fuel prices as a major concern for voters, and even goes so far as to contrast CEO pay with stagnating wages.   On New Years Day he told an audience that  “A president needs to understand that what’s good for the American economy needs to be good for all Americans.”

He also contrasts his own humble roots with the privileged life of his chief rival here in Iowa, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. “If politics is going to end up being nothing more than about who has the most money, then we’ve not had a presidency, we’ve had a plutocracy, and we might as well put it on eBay and sell it to the highest bidder,” he said yesterday in Mason City.

Huckabee might be getting grief from that embarrassing gasbag Limbaugh and his slavering minions of the so-called “right” – but his message is resonating with people who are more concerned about paying for their next tank of $3 per gallon gasoline than whether they ditched their illegal viagra before they attempted to clear customs after their latest Dominican fleshpot cruise.

One of the pillars of Huckabee’s economic plan is a “fair tax” – a national sales tax that would replace the income tax (this is anathema to business interests, which guard their favorite loopholes in the tax code as jealously as a Texas high-school cheerleaders mother).   Conservatives and liberals alike denounce the notion as dangerous, because it would have to be much higher than what Mr. Huckabee has proposed in order to raise enough revenue to keep the country running.  Critics also charge that the “fair tax” Huckabee proposes would hit the very  working-class people he aims to help the hardest.    

But that doesn’t stop it from resonating.  It hit home with 22-year-old Jason Downs, a University of Iowa student who recently went to a Huckabee rally.  “Right now the middle class is paying more taxes, the upper class has abilities to get accountants and move funds around and all that. Where if you have a consumption tax, it’s going to be a fair amount,” said Mr. Downs.

John Edwards, who never left Iowa after the 2004 election,  has been priming the populist pump in Iowa ever since.  And with energy prices so high, and healthcare so tenuous (farmers are self employed and have to buy their own health coverage, unless a spouse works “in town” and likely only  took the job in the first place in order to get insurance.  And still the premiums and copays keep going up.)

Whatever happens tonight in Iowa, and next week in New Hampshire, the economic message of populism is going to influence the rest of the campaign.

And while I am not a populist (insert joke about city dwellers and public transportation here) I welcome the message.  For too long corporate interests have run roughshod over the interests of ordinary people, to the point that it now represents a serious threat to our liberty.  So I welcome anything that might reverse that trend.