Campaigns & Elections - August 2007 - (Page 47)

By John Boyanoski ohn Edwards was a third-year law student who grew up in a series of rural Carolina mountains towns when he got the job interview of a lifetime. There was just that one odd requirement. He had to bring a tennis racket to a federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C. The bright young student was getting the chance to clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Frank Dupree, one of the most powerful jurists in North Carolina, said Richard Leonard, now a federal bankruptcy judge. Back then, Leonard was another Dupree law clerk. Dupree was an avid tennis player, so the incoming clerk needed to know his stuff. Edwards didn’t flinch at the request, and never showed any sign of intimidation during the year he and Leonard worked together for Dupree. “This was a kid from small towns who had probably never been in a judge’s chambers,” Leonard recalled. “But it never showed. He was poised. He was confident in everything he did.” ‘He Just Has That Inner Strength’ Edwards used that confidence to become one of the richest trial lawyers in America. He parlayed that success into a surprising, but successful Senate run in 1998. In 2004, he made a bid for the presidency, but settled for a spot on the Democratic ticket as Sen. John Kerry’s running mate. Now he’s back on the campaign trail, once again seeking the presidency. Critics assail his lack of a political career—his biggest achievement in the Senate was a health care bill that didn’t pass the House—and the massive amounts of money he made working on a series of high-profile medical malpractice cases in North Carolina as a trial lawyer. The clucking comes when he talks about “two Americas.” Edwards is most assuredly on the better side of those two Americas now. But that wasn’t always the case, friends such as Leonard note. Edwards grew up in small mill towns in a family that didn’t have a lot of money, and he never forgets that. That legacy is what drives him, they say. “When you talk about his influences, growing up poor is the biggest thing,” said John Moylan, an attorney and chairman of Edwards’ South Carolina campaign team. Leonard said behind the smile and the jokes about his $400 J John Edwards has crafted a strong message about poverty—a plight he knows about firsthand The Strong Man CAMPAIGNS & ELECTIONS 08.07 47

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Campaigns & Elections - August 2007

Cover Contents Editor’s Note Ames Straw Poll Cavalcade; Last Candidate Standing; The New Dollar-A-Year Guy; Web Videos That Can Change the Election Across State Lines: Campaign News from Around the Country People and Organizations Movers and Shakers: Ten Questions for Matthew Taylor and Philip de Vellis Campaign Consultant Sign-Ups Reel Time Cover Story: Building Blocks From Madison Avenue to K Street Money Can’t Buy Votes Dick Cheney: Roll Model for Millions Ames: Still Weird, Still Important How to Do Tougher, Quicker Crisis Management Online Cause-Based SocNets Lure Issue Voters The Great Exaggeration Why Primetime TV is Alive and Well, Politically Speaking Buyer’s Guide Tips for Toeing the Fine Line Between Employment, Friendship Managing Your Friend’s Campaign? Think ‘Consigliore’ Off The Record

Campaigns & Elections - August 2007

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