Notes from Evan Smith
"Only in a year in like this one would Ann Coulter calling you a faggot be good news. With two rock star opponents in the Democratic presidential primary sucking the air out of the room, John Edwards will take all the attention that comes his way, even if it’s on the business end of a slur. It doesn’t matter that he was his party’s vice-presidential choice in 2004, or that he never really stopped running for the White House in the years since and has the high name ID to prove it, or that he’s a charismatic, substantive, and plausible candidate this time around. Not being Barack Obama and not being Hillary Clinton would put anybody at a disadvantage, and it’s already ended the nascent campaigns of two money-starved hopefuls, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh and our recent guest on this program, former Iowa Governor
Tom Vilsack. But 53-year-old Edwards isn’t one to shrink from a challenge, and his energetic pursuit of the nomination, his decision to push domestic policy to the forefront of his campaign, and his strategic targeting of early caucus and primary states like Iowa and Nevada have surely kept him in the game. So has his honesty. His forthright assertion that he was wrong to vote in support of the Iraq war resolution seems to have mollified the peaceniks, at least for now, and his willingness, brave but risky, to talk about a tax increase to pay for universal health care has won him fans in the press, if not the populace. Eighteen months from Election Day, the trial lawyer and former United States Senator from North Carolina is right there in the thick of things—and this week, he’s here with us, to explain why he should be the next President of the United States."
- Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 4.5.07
