Edwards a welcome choice

Now the Democratic party nominations -- both for the presidency and for the post of vice-president will be officially accepted and endorsed at the four-day Democratic Party Convention to be held in Boston late this month.

Senator Edwards as a trial lawyer and a politician has over the years styled himself as a champion of the working class, the son of a mill worker who grew up in the rural south. He opens up a part of rural America that has been very much on the policy agenda of the Democrats. He knows how to talk to them, his language, his speech, his mannerisms, his everything tells them, "I was one of you, I understand you."

The addition of Senator Edwards, and his support from blacks, among other mainstay Democratic constituencies, would put North Carolina into play and is very much expected to bolster Senator Kerry's bid in other southern states, improving his chances of outdoing the abysmal performance in the south of Al Gore, a native Tennesseean, during the 2000 presidential election.

The choice of Senator Edwards is also likely to have a powerful effect on the future of the party, giving a platform to a younger Democrat whose selection has been more or less widely appreciated and hailed. He is, it seems, not very different from the Democratic voters he encountered across the country this year during the primaries. He is fully determined for victory against President Bush and prepared to do almost whatever it takes to win.

Born Johnny Reid Edwards on June 10,1953, in Seneca, South Carolina, he moved to North Carolina to the little town of Robbins, when his father Wallace Edwards took a job there in a textile mill. His mother Bobbie ran a small furniture shop and later worked as a postal employee.

With a degree in textile technology from North Carolina State University and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Senator Edwards is a product of public education, a point he often used to make on the primary campaign trail.

He met his wife Elizabeth in law school; they married in 1977, the year Edwards graduated. By 1980, their child Wade was born. They have a daughter, Cate who has graduated from the Princeton University. He has two other younger children -- Emma Claire, 6, and Jack, 4.

By the mid-1980s, Senator Edwards had made a name for himself as a North Carolina trial lawyer representing ordinary people, mostly highly oppressed and deprived clients against giant corporations. His earning scale went quite high. He reported assets worth $14.3 million to $44.7 million in his most recent financial disclosure statement.

Senator Edwards was driven to enter politics after his eldest son Wade's death as a teenager in a car accident in 1996. Two years later, in his first race, he unseated Senator Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina, then began running for the presidency before his first term was over.In the Presidential primaries, Senator Edwards finished second only to Senator Kerry. For all their friction in the primaries, Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards had two influential Democrats in common as advisers: Senator Edward Kennedy who took Senator Edwards under his wing in the Senate and took an increasingly large role in Senator Kerry's campaign in the primaries; and Bob Shrum, the speech writer and media consultant who worked for both until both men's entry into the primary race led him to drop Edwards as a client last year.

Senator Edwards in his campaign during the primaries offered a legislative agenda that included the promise of a $1.50 an hour increase in the $5.15 minimum wage and extended unemployment benefits. Like John Kerry's own platform, it called for rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to fuel investments in education and healthcare while keeping tax cuts in place for middle income Americans. He proposed doubling current funding for federal programmes to improve teacher quality in public schools.

The upstart freshman Senator has in fact outlasted more experienced politicians to become John Kerry's running mate as the vice-president. His ability to connect with voters has some party leaders comparing him with former president John F. Kennedy. "There were a lot more experienced people in that race in 1960 too. But the people decided this guy has something special." said Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn).

Senator Edward Kennedy who has got some liking for Senator John Edwards has also expressed his satisfaction at the selection, saying, "Edwards managed to leapfrog more experienced politicians to the national ticket because of his gift for giving voice to the values of middle class working people, people who have felt left out."

John Frye, a Minister at the South Aiken Presbyterian Church grew up with Edwards in Robbins, North Carolina and remembers his boyhood friend as "a great natural leader." But as a youth, Edwards' ambition seemed to be channeled into athletics. He was equally good at football, basketball, track, and tennis. Edwards' high school Principal Cecil Hackney still recalls the high quality performances of his student.

Senator Edwards' friends and family in Robbins could not wait to give reporters their reaction. "It makes us feel real proud and his mother and I are real humble" said the Senator's father Wallace Edwards. "He has worked hard all his life. He is the type of person America needs in government; because he does not have any agenda for himself."

Former US President Bill Clinton in an exclusive interview with Jim Lehrer on PBS on July 7 also highly lauded the choice of Senator John Edwards by Presidential nominee Senator John Kerry.

Finally Senator Edwards also won attention elsewhere for other qualities. In 2000, People magazine named the boyishly handsome Senator the year's "sexiest politician."

Zahid Hossain is a Senior Research Fellow at the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Dhaka.