My report on ELIZABETH EDWARDS at town hall meeting-- GREAT SPEAKER!

[gauguin57]

She was doing a town-hall meeting on health care (and other issues) in (uber-conservative) Lancaster, PA. What an asset to the campaign she is ... she is personable, she is articulate -- she has great command of lots of facts and figures and details of the Kerry-Edwards health-care plan ... and she speaks very directly, using a lot of personal examples to demonstrate certain points.

She talked about how, when she and John were building their first new house, and the builder asked her what kind of drawer pull or doorknob she wanted, she was clueless. So she just said to the building, "put the kind of drawer pulls and doorknobs YOU have in YOUR house." Similarly, with healthcare, she said, we should all say to our senators and congressmen, "just give us the kind of healthcare insurance plan YOU have."

She spoke about how Kerry's plan would use tax credits and other incentives to small businesses to encourage them to provide health insurance to their employees they don't now insure. Once there are lower-cost health insurance plans in place, the other insurance companies will have to lower their prices to compete! She said she believes big changes in health care will happen WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE KERRY PRESIDENCY.

Mrs. Edwards talked about how concerned she is about how the media gives less and less attention to serious news and important issues -- she said lately she gets as much of her information from blogs like Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo as she does from the MSM!

A lady in the audience was coughing and using her inhaler ... Mrs. Edwards stopped right in the middle of a sentence to go over and give her a coughdrop. A guy in the audience surprised her during the Q&A ... he had gone to high school with her, and he asked where their next reunion would be held! She blew him a kiss, and said, "This guy was every woman's dream in high school," to which everyone cheered.

Mrs. Edwards said the campaign had blocked off certain "rest days" for her between now and the election. She said she told them to get rid of them -- she said there's no time to waste, because this election CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES! CAN CHANGE ... OUR ... LIVES!

A great event, and very energizing talk to the party faithful! Lots of local media coverage! Mrs. Edwards is a very smart, warm presence on the stump. Wow -- I was just SO IMPRESSED with her in this format. If she comes to your town ... do not miss this great lady!

[Cha]

1. Great Report! Elizabeth should come to DU

she'll get even more News!

[skylarmae]

2. I wonder how she does it. Two small children and a campaign

The very fact that she began another family well into her forties has me feeling awful lazy. She willl be such an added comfort to our Country come January 2005.



(edit: grammer)

[gauguin57]

3. Added comfort is right ... she is so warm and maternal, yet so

professional and smart and on top of the issues. The way she noticed that woman who needed a coughdrop ... sorry, guys, but that's just such a WOMAN thing to do ... not to say no guys would have done that, but women are so used to watching everything in the environment that might have an impact on their families, that they're attuned to everytying -- she noticed that woman, and helped her. And you could just see the whole room light up.

And then she just went right back into talking about drugs from Canada and big drug lobbyists influencing health-care policy in the U.S.!

Wow ... can you tell I'm crazy about Elizabeth?

[gauguin57]

4. Oh, Mrs. Edwards also talked about the Sinclair debacle

in response to a question. She reminded the crowd that the U.S. airwaves are OURS, and that the purveyors of information on them have a responsibility to US! And she said when Kerry is in office, it's gonna be bye bye to Michael Powell as head of the FCC -- and the crowd went wild!

[Larkspur]

5. Liz Edwards should be the Dem Prez nominee

She's the best speaker of the four-some.

[gauguin57]

7. Her speaking style is very complementary to the styles her husband and

John Kerry must adopt ... they have combine their discussion of policy specifics with some broad-brush "themespeak" -- slogans, short soundbites that appeal to those in America who don't want to take the time to read or cogitate over the issues. They have to do "the vision thing" to compete with Chimpy (though there's no competition there!)

So then Teresa and Elizabeth can do these town meetings (Teresa did a health-care one at the local college recently) where they talk about policy in more depth.

But yeah, I think you're right. I've heard all four of them speak, both live and "on the TEEVEE" (as Bush says) ... and I've responded most directly to Elizabeth of the four of them!

[Beaverhausen]

6. I love her to marching up to Cheney after the VP debate

and reminding him what a lying sack of shit he is...well not in so many words. She is too classy for that.

I :loveya: Elizabeth!!!

[gauguin57]

8. Definitely classy.... and since I've talked policy, I'm going to get girly

and say that she was wearing the most lovely pale-plum blazer -- interesting cut, perfect color with her skin and hair tones ... she was just GLOWING in the middle of this hot little old community center! GLOWING, I tell ya!

[gauguin57]

9. And another thing ...

... Mrs. Edwards said that since the House will probably still be Republican, "for the first two years anyway" of a Kerry administration, we probably won't be rid of the Patriot Act entirely for a while. But she said John Kerry will CERTAINLY not appoint an attorney general who is going to use the Patriot Act for all the "sneak and peeks" that John Ashcroft is using it/wants to use it for.

And, of course, the crowd went WILD!

And P.S. ... I saw on the local news tonight that the guy I mentioned in the original post ... the one who went to high school with her ... well, he said it has been 40 years since they saw each other in high school ... IN JAPAN!!!

The worldly Kerrys/Edwardses Vs. a bunch of backwater Texas hillbillies. There's your choice, in an increasingly interconnected world, people!

[spooky3]

10. thanks for a great report!