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Bacon & Edwards
December 09, 2007 6:11 PM
"Most people vote on the basis of candidates themselves," former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, said Saturday in Concord, New Hampshire, when asked about Oprah Winfrey campaigning for his rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois.
"I don't think that is a critical part of what's happening," Edwards said. "People take this very seriously. I don't think they decide who to vote for based on what movie star is for you."
Edwards may have pooh-poohed the stars hitting the trail, and his campaign may have organized a vaguely Oprah-bashing conference call last week.
But that doesn't mean he's above bringing a little celebrity action onto the trail himself. Monday in Des Moines, Iowa, the Edwards campaign will kick off a drive for volunteers to sell their friends and family about the former North Carolina senator.
Called "Six Degrees of John Edwards," the new volunteer drive will offer memorabilia such as policy books and bumper stickers autographed by Edwards, actor Kevin Bacon -- after whom the popular "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" movie trivia game is named -- and actor Tim Robbins to volunteers who complete any one of six actions to help spread the word about Edwards' campaign, such as bringing six undecided caucus-goers to an Edwards event, or writing six letters to the editor.
Robbins will appear with Edwards in Iowa City, Grinnell, and Des Moines on Wednesday. Bacon will hit the trail Saturday and Sunday in Dubuque, Waterloo, Mason City, and Ames. The star of 1984's "Footloose" will also perform with a band, though not his own.
Edwards has previously been joined on the trail by singers Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and actresses Madeleine Stowe and Jean Smart.
After Obama's Oprah-palooza was scheduled, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, announced that she would be joined on the trail by her husband the former president, as well as her mother Dorothy and daughter Chelsea, though she said the family's arrival on the campaign trail had nothing to do with Oprah's arrival on the trail for her chief rival.
-- jpt
December 9, 2007 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (28)
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Hillary comes in 3rd if she does not get the womwn and black vote in Iowa. I for one think Edwards is still a dark horse.
Posted by: tony sacco | Dec 9, 2007 9:18:42 PM
Will someone please explain to me what is Hillary Clinton's experience that qualifies her to be lead as president "from day one?" She was MARRIED to the president, she had NO role in foreign policy, she had NO role in fiscal nor monetary policy. Her only role was in her severely botched health care initiative. It will be the Bill Clinton presidency all over again, because she will be leaning on him for every difficult decision, of which there will be ample.
Posted by: jp | Dec 9, 2007 9:05:14 PM
OBAMA LEANING ON OPRAH :(
Will this columnist please tell us how many times BIG HEARTED OPRAH has taken a party of entertainers to Aftghanistan of Iraq to SHOW SUPPORT FOR OUR TROOPS, (NOT THE WAR), BUT OUR TROOPS, OUR HEROS, YOUR SONS, DAUGHTERS, MOTHERS and FATHERS !!!Has Oprah ever showed or been interested in public policy: lower middle class taxes, lower military spending, improving social security? No to all and for her to now assume and think the People from all over the United States will vote for Mr. Obama because she endorces him? really makes me wonder if she thinks we are naive, just as her candidate a 2 year Jr. Senator. Our Country is in a crucial state and we can not take the Risk by doing what Oprah wants us to do. A Reponsible Vote is what the people in Iowa, New Hampshire and every state will make and that is to vote for experience, which is what we need in the crucial times we are in. Mrs. Hillary Clinton. Clinton's experiences "make her uniquely qualified to lead our nation at this time of great challenge. She is the candidate with the strength and experience to restore America's standing in the world and to return the United States to a position of global leadership. Oprah please as nice as you seem to be do not expect all these people to put thier future in the hands of inexperience and risk the future of our country, Mr. Obama you should have waited to 2016-Not now, you are to Risky. My vote will be a Responsible vote and I hope all of America will vote with thier own minds... May God give us the wisdom to do the right thing and vote Responsibly for the good of our Country and not let us be influence with Star Power,
Posted by: niliadis | Dec 9, 2007 8:50:31 PM
I have a lot of respect for Tim Robbins. That he endorses Edwards means something to me. Robbins protested against the war, and the "chilling" of America under Bush wherein people were afraid to speak their mind and disagree.
Edwards is the man I want most of all. Obama, I am afraid of the racism will hurt him, and the causes we believe in.
Posted by: Oscar | Dec 9, 2007 8:34:51 PM
Yes, some of us are old enough and have enough experience to remember Robert Kennedy's campaign in 1968. He also was a committed figher and progressive at that point, unlike Gene McCarthy. Edwards reminds me a bit of RFK.I'm sure if Obama had talked enough about a "politics of hope" campaigning against Nixon it would have done the trick, just as it will against the onslaught he or any other democratic candidate will face in the general campaign.
Posted by: fightforchange | Dec 9, 2007 7:44:33 PM
I'm an Independent,but support a lot of Edward's initiatives. The Democrats need to have a Moderate, from the South, like Edwards to foster their bid to capture moderates in the South and Midwest.
Posted by: Jerry | Dec 9, 2007 7:42:04 PM
Doesn't Edwards understand that people like Tim Robbins hurt his campaign? I think that Edwards group of celebrities sounds like a group of has been hippies. Obama sounds like change and Edwards sounds like my parents generation trying to fight the establishment.
Posted by: Susan | Dec 9, 2007 7:16:53 PM
Edwards has run an honest campaign from the start and put policy initiatives ahead of superficial politics. I encourage fellow Democrats to support his campaign for change.
Posted by: michael | Dec 9, 2007 6:20:31 PM
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