What You Can Do: Don't Fail Out Of Law School!

Posting will be a little light for the next few days as we try to figure out what on earth is going on with the tax code. Good luck to everyone!

Debate Tonight!

Watch John Edwards in action tonight, with the rest of the Democratic field, at the first debate of the primary season!

Nationwide
7:00 - 8:30pm EDT
Live From S.C. State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina
The debate will be broadcast live on MSNBC News, MSNBC.com, and South Carolina's NBC affiliates.

Edwards and Rural America

I thought this was neat:

But when two weeks ago Loyd Johnson received a call from the Edwards campaign seeking input in the former North Carolina senator’s Rural Recovery Act, he was impressed.

“The young man listened to all of my comments for half an hour,” says Johnson. “And I said a lot of things.”

When you're writing up a policy on a presidential campaign, it's just plain logistically challenging to talk to regular people in the fields you'll be affecting. So I thought that was well done on the part of the campaign. What I'm really happy to see is that Edwards has a well-developed plan for revitalizing rural America. John Edwards knows personally that small, one-industry towns are especially sensitive to economic downturns, so it's important to make sure that rural America is just as prepared as our suburbs and cities for the 21st century. It's just another reflection of John Edwards' belief that every human being is equally valuable. It's a refreshing attitude for a major presidential contender.

Charlotte Observer: Edwards Retaining Core Supporters

This is always great to see:

It was an easy sell, said Gibson Vance, a 42-year-old trial lawyer and lead fundraiser in Alabama for both of Edwards' campaigns.

"We didn't have anybody who supported him in 2004 say, `I'm not supporting him this time,' " said Vance. "I've not run into anybody who said, `I'm not for John. I'm for somebody else.' "

Similar scenes were repeated in cities across the country, enabling Edwards to raise $14 million during the first three months of the year.

I've noticed the same trend in Edwards' senior staffers. Edwards '04 staffers who have returned for the '08 campaign include (these are their '04 roles) campaign manager Nick Baldick, communications director David Ginsberg, press secretary Jennifer Palmieri, research director Christina Reynolds, finance director Jennifer Swanson, and Iowa field director (and now state director) Jen O'Malley. That's just off the top of my head. The Edwards 2004 team was great, and they're only getting better.

What You Can Do: Throw An Event At Your School!

Time's running out on the 2007-2008 school year, but there's still time to throw a quick ____ Law for Edwards organizational meeting. Pick a time and place, send a couple notes to your Law Dems list or paste some flyers around the building, then when the time comes, introduce yourselves, toss around some ideas for what to do in the summer and fall, and then have a drink afterwards. Easy as pie! If people are already taking action now, it'll be easier to hit the ground running when school starts back up.

And when you organize, don't forget to pick a contact person and let me know (terrymcmahon-/-gmail.com), so we can add your school to the big list!

John Edwards: The People's Champion

It's a few days old, but over at the Huffington Post David Sirota has an interesting analysis of the presidential race:

From William Jennings Bryan to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Robert F. Kennedy to Howard Dean, the Democratic Party has a rich history of iconic People Party presidential candidacies.
...
If you are a voter looking for a candidate who is willing to confront the biggest issues facing America right now - Iraq, economic class, the middle class squeeze and skyrocketing inequality - then there really is no contest in the Democratic presidential primary right now: John Edwards is your candidate.

Some may say that because Edwards "only" raised a whopping $14 million in contrast with Clinton and Obama's $25 million each, it means he may not be viable. I tend to look at it the other way: The fact that a guy who spent most of his life challenging economic power can raise $14 million without taking money from lobbyists or PACs is unfathomable - arguably more of a feat than the sheer amounts that Clinton and Obama hauled in.

I've often thought that John Edwards is running an outsider's campaign, free from the often unimportant constraints that the Beltway establishment encourages for its candidates. The fact that Edwards has done as well as he has at fundraising and endorsements, then, makes me think he's even more effective an advocate than I thought.

Important note: The subject of this post is indeed a reference to the most electrifying man in sports entertainment. Finally, John Edwards has come back to the presidential campaign!

John Edwards: You Shouldn't Have To Do Your Taxes

No, seriously. From the New York Sun:

The former North Carolina senator laid out the idea in an audio podcast posted on his Web site April 7. For Americans whose employers and financial institutions send all of their relevant tax data to the government, the IRS would calculate their bills and mail them completed returns, which he called "Form 1." Filers could sign the form and return it, or reject it and file their own return if they disagreed with anything in the IRS's calculations. Form 1 would not be an option for taxpayers with more complicated returns. "Hardworking families who pay their taxes shouldn't have to pay tax preparers, too," Mr. Edwards said in the podcast. "With Form 1, there is only one thing you have to do — sign and return it."

A professor of economics at the University of Chicago, Austan Goolsbee, calculated in a July 2006 report for the Brookings Institution that about 52 million Americans could benefit from a "simple return" idea, a number that includes those whose financial information is in the possession of the IRS and those eligible for a payment to the working poor called the Earned Income Tax Credit.

This doesn't sound unbelievably impractical to me. If all you're reporting is from your W-2 and maybe a 1099, it seems to me that the IRS side of this could be pretty much entirely automated. In 2004, Edwards' "Real Solutions for America" was by far the best set of useful policy proposals from any candidate, and it looks like this will remain a strength this time.

Prominent Comedians for Edwards

We're pretty cool here at Law Students for Edwards, or at least we're still with it enough to remain within shouting distance of what "it" is. Nonetheless, from today at The Politico:

Celebrity donors include: Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Larry David and Laurie David, Seth Green, Barry Manilow, Brett Ratner, Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw Spielberg, David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Norman Lear.

That's right, the voices of Chris Griffin, Dr. Nick Riviera and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law are all supporting Team Edwards, to say nothing of the co-creator of Seinfeld. Could Billy West be next?

What You Can Do: Join OneCorps!

It'll take some time before Law Students for Edwards has huge chapters in every area, so for now, if you want to get involved with a big group in the community, join OneCorps. According to the OneCorps site,

One Corps' mission is about more than online organizing. We believe that effective advocacy and implementation of change happens when the online world and the offline world work together. One Corps offers the components and tools to make this possible.

In other words, OneCorps members are out and doing things to help the community already. If you want to meet John Edwards supporters where you live, join OneCorps today!

What You Can Do: Join Our Facebook Group!

That's right - like any relevant student association in 2007, Law Students for Edwards has our own Facebook group! Click here for the link - this is a good way to meet other Edwards supporters online and show your support. We can increase our visibility when all your friends see you're in the group. And if you're anything like me, click here to join the group "I Stay Up Late And Do Nothing Productive."

LS4E Central could stand to be up on more Web 2.0 sites, so if you want to spread the word to your favorite site, do it!

What You Can Do: Be Your Law School's Coordinator!

We're still in the embryonic stage here at LS4E, so we're looking for Edwards supporters ready to help organize supporters at their law schools. If you're holding meetings already, great! Post a comment or shoot me an email to let me know what's going on and if you're willing to be listed here as the contact for your school. Thanks!

Welcome to Law Students for Edwards!

Welcome to the first post of many here on Law Students for Edwards. Here at LS4E we intend to organize and work for Senator Edwards through the primary and, with luck, straight through to victory in 2008.

If you're a law student who wants to be involved, please comment or send me a note. My email address is terrymcmahon-/-gmail.com. Let me know you're interested, even if you're not sure what you want to do or how much time you have. We can work with whatever you've got.

To good times - and victory!