Sebelius for VP, not Hillary

The poor, according to the statistics used in this article, make up less than 15% of the United States. The poor have less time to vote and may be less reliable voters than middle class Americans. Is this a fundamental weakness of the Edwards campaign?



Edwards risks backing the poor


Though Edwards has not abandoned his concern for the middle class, poverty is now his issue.

By: Roger Simon
Jul 18, 2007 06:36 AM EST

.....

Edwards is a product of the American middle class. His father worked in a textile mill, and his mother ran an antique refinishing business and then became a letter carrier when her husband left the mill. Like many in the middle class, they sometimes had trouble making ends meet, a fact Edwards often stresses in his campaign speeches.

On Dec. 29, in a Des Moines community center, Edwards gives the most electrifying speech of his campaign.

"Today, under George W. Bush, there are two Americas, not one: One America that does the work, another America that reaps the reward. One America that pays the taxes, another America that gets the tax breaks. One America that will do anything to leave its children a better life, another America that never has to do a thing, because its children are already set for life. One America, middle-class America, whose needs Washington has long forgotten, another America -- narrow-interest America -- whose very wish is Washington's command. One America that is struggling to get by, another America that can buy anything it wants, even Congress and a president."

The audience roars its approval. Edwards will come in second in Iowa and earn a place on the national ticket. It is now just after Christmas last year and John Edwards is running hard for president of the United States.

....

Though Edwards has not abandoned his concern for the middle class, poverty is now his issue. It is a risky switch. Just under 13 percent of the U.S. population lives in poverty, a shockingly high figure in a nation where hundreds of thousands of people recently lined up for the privilege of buying a $599 iPhone.

But the American middle class is vastly larger, probably about 75 percent of the population. Further, middle-class Americans, unlike poor Americans, have time and money to give to political campaigns. Which is why most presidential campaigns prefer to champion middle-class causes, while paying only lip service to poor causes.

But not John Edwards, who this week is on a "poverty tour" of America, trying to get citizens to focus on the poor (and not on his haircuts, his homes or his hedge funds) and to make a commitment to "sacrifice" in order to cut poverty by a third in the next 10 years and eliminate it in the next 30 years. I asked him not long ago if there was not a huge political risk in this, if there is not a risk in championing the poor while other candidates are talking about heaping benefits on the middle class.

"There is clearly a political risk, no question," Edwards said. "But I actually believe this is what America needs." When you talk to people in crowds after political speeches, they always say they would be willing to sacrifice for a candidate or a cause that inspires them. Edwards is going to find out if that is true.

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Source: politico.com

prrriiide

I don't think so. Generally, by helping the poor, you also help out a lot of middle class people in the process and I think the middle class voters are sophisticated enough to realize that. That said, I'm not sold on Edwards. He has some good points and some bad, like the rest. I think the fundamental weaknesses in his campaign have more to do with perceptions of sincerity and a fear that he'll tax the bejeebers out of everybody, middle class included. Unless he can put that baby to bed fast, he'll get creamed.

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francois60

It will hurt him in the Democratic primary because the poor are backing Clinton and Obama.

Edwards' primary source of support isn't the poor, it's upper class whites.

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perdidochas

Edwards is the fundamental weakness of the Edwards campaign. He's a lightweight--he's a one term senator who didn't run for a second term because he knew he would lose. Heck, he didn't even win his own state in the election.

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