For better or worse, John Edwards isn’t as special this time around:
For years Edwards has relied on the support of his fellow trial lawyers’ deep pockets to help get him elected — first to the Senate and then three years ago, when he made a run at the White House and then became running mate to Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who won the Democratic nomination. But as Edwards mounts his second presidential bid, he has struggled to attract plaintiffs lawyers beyond his stable of longtime donors, just as other Democratic candidates, such as Sens. Hillary Clinton from New York, Barack Obama from Illinois, and Joseph Biden Jr. from Delaware, have been actively wooing the plaintiffs bar. …
Many of the trial lawyers who supported the Kerry-Edwards ticket in 2004 have chosen to throw their lot in with Obama or are keeping their options open by donating to multiple candidates. The fracturing of the trial-lawyer constituency could have dramatic effects on the total dollars Edwards will be able to raise. …
Also cited as hurting Edwards with some past givers: the steps he took to moderate his image on litigation reform during the 2004 campaign, including his endorsement of pre-screening of merit in medical malpractice cases. Even Sen. Biden is making inroads:
Biden has long been seen as a supporter of the trial lawyer community on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he has opposed legal-liability proposals and bills that would limit claims against health-care providers. No candidate is more visibly tied to the trial bar than Edwards. But Clinton and Biden, who also headlined a national trial lawyer convention in Miami Beach in February, have both said they’re opposed to caps on punitive damage awards.
Despite Obama’s silence on the issues trial lawyers care about, those who support him say they are confident he will back trial lawyers when the time comes.
(Anna Palmer, Legal Times, Apr. 9).
10 Comments
Can someone help me out here and tell me what the fascination with Obama is? I remember lots of people criticizing John Edwards for being a one-term Senator and therefore not having the experience to be President. Are Obama’s books that compelling of a read?
Justinian, he’s black and he looks good on TV. That shouldn’t be enough reason, but the competition doesn’t have much more to offer.
He’s black and looks good on TV, and he was against our waging war against Iraq.
He has worked with the poor, and can hobnob with the advantaged. He speaks in sentences without talking down. He put together a staff that raked in a lot of money.
He does not bully, and resists bullies very well.
At this time I prefer Governor Richardson, but I think Mr. Obama will hold up well in the forthcoming contest.
Obama’s charisma, unlike John Edwards’, does not come off as that of a slimy used-car salesman.
Backer of trial lawyers and all, I couldn’t see him channeling the spirits of the dead in front of a jury.
Also, as dull as Kerry was, Edwards wasn’t running against the iconic divisive figure of the 21st century. Being up against Hillary Clinton gets you a lot of reflected glory.
So … who is NOT sucking up to the trial lawyers, in this years’ election? Is there somewhere we can look that up?
JB: I actually met John Edwards in person and heard him speak. I’ve been around a lot of politicians, so it means something when I say I honestly think he cares about the poor and about the country. I’m skeptical about politicians by default, but I think he’s the real deal.
Of course, the fact that he’s charming, attractive, intelligent, and likely able to carry some southern states most likely means he won’t get the nomination.
One thing’s for sure about 2008, though: It’s gonna be bloody and a lot of fun to watch.
P.S. Am I not getting your joke, or are you confusing former Senator John Edwards with the guy who talks to the dead?
I thought I read on here that one of John Edwards’s courtroom tactics was to pretend to speak with/as a dead relative of one of the plaintiffs.
I can’t provide a reference for it, and it may even have come from a different blog.
You may think he’s the real deal, but I’ve always gotten the used-car-salesman vibe from him. Based solely on his performance in 2004 and this campaign(relative to Obama), I’d say more people agree with me, but that doesn’t make you wrong.
Griffin3: Giuliani is not sucking up to trial lawyers. Gingrich is sound on that question, too. I don’t know Romney’s stance.
Edwards did claim to be channelling the voice of a brain-damaged baby; it was in a New York Times article that we only referenced in passing: “She speaks to you through me,” the lawyer went on in his closing argument. “And I have to tell you right now — I didn’t plan to talk about this — right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She’s inside me, and she’s talking to you.” His litigation career has unquestionably hurt the poor.
Thanks, Ted. I knew it was some kind of chicanery like that, and I guess I did confuse the substance for John Edward’s methodology.
In any event, I can’t see Obama pulling that kind of stunt. Whether that means he comes across as more honest, or just has better charisma, I don’t know.
[…] On Sen. Biden’s overall alignment with the general trial lawyer cause, see our earlier links here, here, and […]