Lawyers for Edwards!

We can't all be responsible for 15 hours of class hours a week. If you've earned your JD, passed the bar, and want to help one of the country's foremost advocates move into the White House, head on over to Lawyers for Edwards and get yourself involved!

Health Insurance

Solving the health care crisis in America is going to require a convoluted plan, the details of which none of us will entirely understand. That shouldn't stop us, though, from making sure we support the values that our candidates espouse when promoting their issues. Here's Edwards on health care, from Saturday's Des Moines Register:

“We need a health care system where individuals are not stuck trying to take on the insurance companies by themselves,” he said. “Because you can’t win. … They’ve got all of the money. They’ve got all of the resources. They’ve got all of the power.”

The former North Carolina senator made the comments as he touted his health care reform proposal, which he said would provide coverage to all Americans.

Not to paint the future of American politics with too wide a brush, but I think guaranteeing reasonable health coverage and giving individuals tools to win disputes with large institutions will become major themes sooner than later. With a vision like this, John Edwards is looking great on both counts.

Stunner of the Day

I'll quote the CNN Political Ticker in full:

Howard Dean says it is incumbent on Democrats to bring the war in Iraq to a close, or risk becoming the minority party again.

“The American people hired Democrats last November to ensure we end this war, so let me be clear.” Dean made the remarks Saturday in the Democratic response the President’s weekly radio address. “We know if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourself in the minority again. But we have to face the reality. The Republicans in Congress are standing with President Bush as he stubbornly wields his veto pen in the face of overwhelming opposition to this war from the American people.”

I honestly don't see what's so difficult about this. Principled disagreements about the war and its direction are fine, but as a strictly political matter, the war is wildly unpopular, Democrats rode a wave of anti-war sentiment into control of both houses of Congress, and Democratic capitulation on the war funding bill last month collapsed Congress' approval rating. If Democrats want to win in 2008, they need to stand strong against the war.

The worst part is I've heard a line of thought that believes that if Democrats succeed in ending the war now, they'll be painted as weak on national security. Now, leaving out the point that Republicans will attack Democrats on national security from now until the end of time no matter what happens, ending the war would be a fantastic move politically.

How about this for a tagline: "Republicans got us into this war. Democrats got us out." Works for me.

Huffington Post: "Edwards In The Target Zone"

Great commentary from Taylor Marsh in the Huffington Post:

"Today, we know two unequivocal truths about the results of (President) Bush's approach" to confronting terrorism -- "there are more terrorists and we have fewer allies."
...
You simply cannot dispute what Edwards is saying with any credibility. There are more terrorists today, as well as terrorist attacks. Mr. Bush's blunder in Iraq, and his continued inability to adjust early enough has given a lot of fuel and recruiting tools to our enemies. For a man bent on fighting the "global war on terror," all he and the Republicans parroting his talking points seem to do is inspire more terrorism. It started early, with the state department first refusing to report the rise in terrorism. The bad news continues.
...
I learned one thing a long time ago. When people go to extremes to attack you it can mean only one thing. They think you're a threat. Edwards is obviously doing something right. Will it be enough to win the Democratic nomination? Who knows, but he's making a lot of people nervous.

I don't need to copy in the attacks on Senator Edwards, since everyone knows they're coming. And oddly enough, I'm glad to see them. In 2003, Edwards never had the target on his back like Howard Dean and John Kerry did. Now, he's being attacked left and right because he's the candidate making the best connection to voters on both issues and gut feelings.

It would be nice if Edwards could avoid being attacked, but this is politics. Marsh is right: they don't attack you unless they worry about you. John Edwards can do this.

Memorial Day

The Madison Capital Times looks to John Edwards in a Memorial Day editorial:

There is only one way to "support the troops" in this conflict, and Edwards has summed it up well in his call for a respectful Memorial Day agitation to extract U.S. forces from Bush's war of whim. "The American people voted last fall to stand by our troops, end the war, and bring our soldiers home. The Congress sent the president a bill that would fund the troops and bring them home," argues the most outspoken war critic among the leading contenders for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "But President Bush has embarked on a stubborn path -- rejecting the will of the people and Congress. ... It has become clear that the only way to support our troops and end the war is by direct action -- by democracy."
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Adds Edwards, "It has been said that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. Mark Twain once wrote that the government must not decide who is a patriot and who isn't.' President Theodore Roosevelt went even further. He said that to say there should be no criticism of a president is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public.' "

Edwards has hit on an important theme. It is often said that U.S. troops are fighting for democracy. If this is so, then those fights are only really won when American democracy is open and vibrant enough to allow for a realistic discussion of the nation's circumstance. By suggesting that this Memorial Day is the right time to challenge the Bush administration's false assertions and failed policies, Edwards is marking himself as precisely the sort of bold leader that America will need in the post-Bush era.

Couldn't say it better myself.

College for Everyone

While Senator Edwards won't make it to the White House until 2009, the campaign so far has emphasized steps that we can take now to make things better, even in the absence of the presidency. Here's a terrific example:

Based on a pilot program at Greene Central High School, which serves a rural area in Eastern North Carolina, Edwards said his effort would make college opportunities more broadly available.

Starting in 2005, Edwards initiated a privately-funded "College for Everyone" program that cover the cost of tuition, fees and books at a public college for one year. In exchange, students must work at least 10 hours a week in college, take college preparatory courses in high school and stay out of trouble.

The program has increased the rate of kids from Greene Central High going to college from 54 percent to 74 percent, according to the Edwards campaign.

College is the great equalizer in American society, so we're lucky to have Senator Edwards speaking out with a real plan to improve access to higher education. There's nothing worse than when high schoolers who wants to keep learning, keep improving and keep increasing their earning potential, and they just can't afford to do it. Hopefully we'll have a plan soon that'll do for the country what Senator Edwards' College for Everyone has done for Greene, North Carolina.

John Edwards: Stop Tolerating Ann Coulter

It's funny, having just finished finals I wanted to write a new post, but I was concerned there wouldn't be anything new with Senator Edwards that would make me feel happy to support him.
I shouldn't have worried. This snippet from an article in The Hill is all I needed to see:

Presidential hopeful John Edwards Wednesday strongly criticized conservative pundit Ann Coulter for remarks she made about Edwards’s main rival for the Democratic nomination — Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

“Just when we thought Ann Coulter couldn’t take the politics of personal destruction any lower, she proved us wrong,” Edwards said. “Her outrageous comments are inexcusable and should not be tolerated in the public dialogue.”

I find it amazing that conservatives continue to support Ann Coulter. Now, many conservatives support Ann Coulter - she was applauded at the Conservative Political Action Conference where she used offensive language to describe Senator Edwards - so maybe, for some of them, they think our political system needs more people like Ann Coulter. But as a purely political matter, sooner or later the mainstream political press is going to start asking Republican politicians whether (and why) they support Ann Coulter, and it won't help their movement that she's so closely tied in. Hopefully she'll abandon the political scene and this will be the end of it, but failing that, I'm glad John Edwards is standing up to Ann Coulter and her vicious brand of politics.

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!