What did Edwards do for North Carolina?

[BluegrassDem]

I got some family living there that aren't pleased with his constituent services when he was senator. Apparently, he wasn't very responsive when they wrote or e-mailed his office with their local concerns. I was just wondering if any North Carolinians had any sense of what kinda senator he was for the state? I'd hate to think he was too busy running for president instead of tending to his duties.

To me, it doesn't matter which party you're from. You have to respond to your constituents concerns. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be a politician. I don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. Anything short of that is just inexcusable.

[illinoisprogressive]

1. that is why I'm not supporting him

I'm in Illinois. I'm not from Edwards state but have heard far too many dems from there who are not happy. they are very upset with him. apparently he did not attend the senate much or do much legislation. They are mad. They said he began running the minute he got elected senator.
After hearing these people I decided I would not support him. Besides, he strikes me as kind of fake.

[citizen snips]

2. He responded to my letter.

I remember writing to him about global warming and he responded back with a three page letter.

[Mind_your_head]

4. 3 page letter eh? That would be a 'keeper' in most people's 'book'

Care to post it?

[citizen snips]

ok here it is

December 3, 2003

Dear Matthew

Thank you for writing to share your concerns about our environment. I appreciate hearing young people like you, and I sincerely apologize for the delay in my response.

I believe it is critical to have our young people actively involved and interested in the political process. Even those who are not yet eligible to vote can have profound impact on our public discourse by becoming active in their schools and communities, keeping abreast of current issues by reading the newspapers and performing research on the internet, and by staying in touch with their elected officials, as you have, to let them know your views.

Poor air quality is a problem that has taken on particular significance in for North Carolina. As you may know a recent study by the American Lung Association found that ozone levels in North Carolina's urban areas now rival the pollution of much large cities. Moreover this problem impacts our entire state, not just the highly populated urban centers. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited of all National Parks, is significantly impacted by air pollution problems.

High levels of air pollution raise serious concerns for North Carolinians. Poor air quality negatively impacts the natural environment and the economic well-being of our state. Moreover a growing body of scientific knowledge has emphasized the long-term adversity effects of poor air quality on our health.

As your senator I am working to promote improved air quality. I voted to update and improve fuel efficiency standards for cars and SUV's. In addition, I supported regulations that would have required states to tell the public which areas fail to meet new, more stringent, pollution standards.

As you may know, I am particularly concerned about the Administration's rollback of the Clean Air Act. On November 22, 2002, the EPA finalized changes in the New Source Review program that relax requirements for older power plants and factories to install modern pollution-control systems when plants are renovated. During consideration of the fiscal year 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Act, I introduced an amendment to delay the implementation of this new rule until until a non-partisan study of its impact is completed. Unfortunately, the amendment was defeated by a vote of 46-50. I will continue to fight against the Administration's action, which will allow more kids to get asthma and more seniors to have heart problems.

Please be assured I will keep your views and suggestions about improving air quality in mind as the Senate considers related legislation. Thank you again for taking the time to share your concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I may be of assistance in the future.

Yours Sincerely
John Edwards


well it is two pages but that is not the point. The point is he wrote me back.

[renie408]

32. DAMMIT! Why didn't I keep my letters?? That was AWESOME, man!! n/t

[citizen snips]

33. They come in handy

for times like this so I can disprove false muckraking.

[Mind_your_head]

3. What? You're looking for RESULTS/ACTION......

Sheeeeet! :sarcasm:

[IndianaGreen]

5. Edwards is leading in the polls in Iowa

Could this possibly be the reason we now have people complaining about his "constituent services when he was senator"?

I am just curious... Too early for the GOP to be attacking our Dems, so it follows that any attacks this early must come from the camp that is trailing badly in Iowa.

I am also suspicious...

[nashville_brook]

6. here's a link to the 203 bills he co-sponsored

http://tinyurl.com/y7zeee

[Mind_your_head]

7. Your link doesn't work (n/t)

on edit adding: like most everything associated with republican fools!!!!

[nashville_brook]

8. it does now

:)

[JohnLocke]

10. Try this

Go to the 106th, 107th, and 108th Congress, scroll down to Edwards in the Senate menu, and search. You'll find plenty of bills sponsored.

[nashville_brook]

13. "like most everything associated with republican fools" -- care to explain?

[Mind_your_head]

16. like everything else associated with republican fools

DOESN'T WORK in the long term. Current day republicans only think in the short-term (profits)....old time conservatives (who often were identified as "conservatives" tended to think 'long term'.

There's sort of a "tower of Babal" here....where people are using a term that means something different to the speaker than it does to the hearer.

The "old-time Republican party" has been over-run by a bunch of "neophyte radicals"....I have thought for several years now the the republican part has to take back control of its own party that has TRULY run-amok.

[nashville_brook]

19. how is John Edwards associated with "republican fools"?

i got lost somewhere, altho i agree with your repub assessment.

[Mind_your_head]

24. hehe....this line of questioning

reminds me of when I get paid (occasionally) by an "interviewing" firm to give my opinion about a mattress or a car or how well a diaper works.

What do you think I mean when I associate John Edwards with "Republican Fools"?

[babylonsister]

9. My dad lived there when Edwards was a senator, and Dad was not

impressed at all. Dad is a MAJOR Dem and Dean fan, but he was no fan of Edwards.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Has your dad expressed any opinions as to the prospective candidates?

I realize that most people are not even paying attention to Campaign 2008 because there are more pressing issues that we are facing as a nation right now, but I am curious if your dad has expresses any opinions about the prospective Democratic field. If he has, would you care to share them with us?

[babylonsister]

14. No, he hasn't. I will try to remember to ask him. He's been

kind of my bellwether; he knew dimson was going to be bad news and predicted poor houses which sadly, we're not too far away from provided someone wants to jump in and help.
He loves Dean but I think he's pretty disgusted at the moment. November gave him hope, I turned him on to Olbermann, and he loves him.
So we're both/all waiting to see what the Dems do with their bounty come January.

[IndianaGreen]

17. I am anxious about January

On election day I was sitting at a local pub with the Drinking Liberally group watching the election returns. A colleague and old time DUer said that people will be surprised when they find out how little things change when the Democrats got control of Congress. The first crisis is going to be Congress's confrontation with Bush regarding his reckless troop surge. I hope and pray that our Democratic representatives put the Constitution and the nation ahead of polls and partisan considerations, and do their patriotic duty by stopping this madman.

[babylonsister]

20. My major source of hope and optimism at this point is that

our Dems do the right thing. We are so close to that being a reality, I also hope they don't compromise, or mess it up in any way. Someone has got to be listening to us!

[hijinx87]

11. he beat Lauch Faircloth.

that sounds like something that did the entire state
a world of freaking good.

[BluegrassDem]

15. There's gotta be a legitimate reason why Edwards isn't popular in N.C.

That's why I guess he chose not to run for re-election. When Democrats in your home state don't think much of you, then it's not a very good sign. At least Hillary has been a very good senator for the state of New York. I give her props for that. She won in a landslide in her re-election.

If Edwards couldn't stand for re-election in his home state, how can he run for president?

[liberalpragmatist]

23. Actually, an exit poll showed him beating Burr had he run for reelection

A poll (either an exit poll or a regular poll) taken at the time of the '04 election over a hypothetical Edwards vs. Burr race had Edwards beating Burr by 7 points.

Take it with a grain of salt because I can't find it now. But I remember seeing at the time.

Also, I'll grant you that an actual Senate reelection campaign would have had its own dynamics.

As best I can tell Edwards started out with great approval ratings, which fell to the mid-40s when he started running for President. However, once he came close to winning Iowa and had a reasonably good primary run, his approval ratings rebounded strongly so that polling showed that Kerry/Edwards might win North Carolina. From there, they declined somewhat during the course of the campaign but remained over 50%. I have no idea what they're like now.

[Alcibiades]

35. That's hysterical

You don't remember, but they were all over him (Edwards) about running for Senate and the presidency at the same time. They said "Pick one." So he continued to run for President, and then Vice President, and chose not to run for Senate.

Don't cite what was effectively a Repuke campaign strategy for getting to pick up a seat here in NC as evidence for his supposed "lack of support" among NC Dems. We love John Edwards, and the whole Edwards family.

No offense, but you really don't know what you're talking about, if you're citing the fact that he chose to run for national office rather than reelection to the Senate as "evidence" of weakness of support for him in his home state. Don't accuse North Carolina Democrats of not supporting our favorite son unless you know what you're talking about. John Edwards has never lost a race in North Carolina (at least, when he's been at the top of the ticket.)

You should have been to a rally with tens of thousands of Edwards supporters, and then you wouldn't cite Republican talking points on DU. It's bad enough that they have gotten you to believe their lies about John Edwards--don't go around repeating them as if they were the truth!

[renie408]

37. Yep

It's fine for somebody to have a problem with Edwards. I never really try to argue with the people whose objection is his IWR vote. It is a legitimate reason. But I really HATE IT when people just pull totally baseless insinuations out of their ass. If you don't like him, fine. At least come up with some REAL reason.

[Contrite]

18. When Edwards went to the Bilderberg meeting in '04

prior to Kerry's announcing him as running mate it didn't sit well with me.

And, yes, I know many others have been Bilderberg guests.

Added to this, I was a staunch Dean supporter but in our caucus in MN we Deaniacs were "asked" by the state party chair to support Edwards instead. Then the next day he dropped out. This was at the time when Dean was holding on to get more delegates to the convention. I still voted for him and so did DH but lots of people took the bait.

As was posted upthread I too feel that Edwards is a bit "fake". I actually liked him in the early debates, found him very engaging and bright, but as time wore on his rags to riches story started to wear on me. Added to which, I thought it premature that a junior senator started running for president so early in his career.

[Riddler]

21. I contacted his office twice while he was in the Senate and got immediate responses both times.

But I've yet to get a response from either Liddy Dole or Richard Burr despite numerous inquiries I've written and called them about.

[citizen snips]

22. If you do get a response from Dole or Burr

it is all RW propaganda.

[comsymp]

25. I got responses both times I contacted his office, as well

I'm really looking forward to the onslaught of mis/disinformation we'll be reading about him here in the future!

:popcorn:

[renie408]

29. Who needs information of any kind when they can just cast personal aspersions. n/t

[comsymp]

34. Yup - saves Tighty Righties the trouble when we just do their dirty work for 'em, y'know

nt

[ChipsAhoy]

26. You're right - piss poor senator

That was a big complaint about him in 2004.

Also, didn't Kerry lose that state, mostly because of Edwards?

I'm not happy with that.

[comsymp]

27. No, not mostly because of Edwards, but thanks for the meme

Kerry lost NC because he refused to friggin' campaign here - IIRC, they made 2 or 3 trips and then wrote us off.

[renie408]

31. THANK YOU. And the fact that he didn't wasn't because

he thought Edwards would win the state for him, it was because they wrote it off. NC was always expected to go Republican.

[renie408]

30. Here we go! The fun of a campaign season on the DU is just beginning!! n/t

[Alcibiades]

36. Actually, no

The big complaint about him was simply that he had only served one term in the Senate. People thought of him as an effective senator.

No, Kerry didn't lose NC because of Edwards. He lost NC because of the Swift Boat Vets, and bad choices on the ground here in NC (For example, John Edwards was never here, they used him elsewhere. Also, the national campaign waffled about how many resources they were devoting here, before pulling out prematurely.)

He also lost because not enough Democrats from New York and other areas of the country have discovered what a wonderful place North Carolina is--sparkling, white sand beaches to the east, picturesque mountains to the west, with the scenic and historic rolling terrain of the Carolina Piedmont in the center, North Carolina is the destination of choice for relocating Yankees. Quickly, before your house depreciates too much further, sell it so that you can move into a house that's half again as large for half of what you sold your old house for, and use the rest of your money to buy bric-a-brac at our local souvenir shops, or even the necessities of life at your local Piggly Wiggly, Food Lion, Winn Dixie or Harris Teeter.

Seriously, we just need us a few more Yankees, and we can deliver the state to whoever is the nominee, provided they ain't from Massachusetts.

[renie408]

38. OK, you just lost me.

I was all with you right up until you said that thing about the South needing more Yankees.

I live in upstate SC and we have PLENTY of Yankees, thanks anyway.

[Alcibiades]

43. It's California all over again

People realize somewhere is a nice place to live and then flood it. Soon it's not a nice place to live anymore. Wake County, for example, still has a good school system by most measures, but this will cease to be the case as the school age population expands quicker than any school system could be expected to cope.

I always try to look on the bright side--here in the Triangle, we are getting lots of people from out of state, mainly from New York. There are a lot of downsides to this rapid growth, but, on my "the glass is half full" days, I reflect on the fact that these folks are mainly Democrats, and the statistics bear this out. If we manage to turn NC blue in presidential races (as it already is on most other levels) it will be mainly due to the influx of these Yankees.

One group that does see a real benefit is the Yankees themselves. If I had to pay property taxes on a $600,000, 1,000 square foot bungalow, I'd move here too!

[citizen snips]

40. Good post

But I think NC has enough Yankees.

[DaveinMD]

41. Kerry lost that state because of Kerry

Edwards is quite popular there.

[renie408]

28. I wonder why.

We lived in Monroe, NC, for seven years. Three of them were during Edwards tenure. I wrote his office three times and received an individualized reply every time. I don't remember if he had already started running for President when I wrote, though. But we moved in December of '03, so I would think he had.

[Infinite Hope]

39. People always complain about constituent service...

because they don't understand how it works behind the scenes and don't understand the purpose. Sometimes the process takes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months depending upon what the issue is and what agency/department is being dealt with. A Congressional or Senate office cannot snap their fingers and make things occur. They have to wait on others just like the constituent does.

[blm]

42. In fairness, that rap was used against Kerry to an extent while Kerry focused on govt. corruption

and spent his entire first term investigating and exposing IranContra, BCCI and illegal wars in Central America.

Kennedy's office is known for being outstanding in caring for constituents' problems. So it would be hard for ANY senator to equal Kennedy in that regard.