He’s struggling in Democratic presidential primary polls and falling among the candidates in fundraising, but North Carolina Sen. John Edwards garnered a top distinction Wednesday in another category.
He was the first person interviewed by the hosts of CNN’s “Crossfire” on the network’s “Election Express” bus, in Manchester, N.H.
Edwards’s appearance came the day after the nine Democratic presidential hopefuls met in Durham, N.H., for a lively debate that was noted more for comoderator Ted Koppel’s queries than anything the participants said. The ABC News “Nightline” anchor was criticized by most of the candidates for emphasizing polls and campaign performances instead of issues.
On “Crossfire,” conservative cohost Tucker Carlson asked what Edwards thought of Koppel’s questions. “Kind of nasty, didn’t you think, some of them?” he asked.
“Some of them were nasty,” Edwards said. “That wasn’t the problem, though. The big problem was not enough focus on the issues that people are concerned about.”
Edwards said that while the Iraq war was discussed, domestic issues were largely ignored.
In Tuesday’s debate Koppel used the day’s big news — that former Vice President Al Gore endorsed former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean — as a springboard to launch his questioning of the candidates.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Koppel’s line of questioning was decided in a two-hour meeting of ABC News staffers. Those in the meeting concluded that “more queries about health care or Iraq would simply produce the same scripted sound bites that had bored viewers to tears in the previous debates,” the newspaper reported.
“Howard Dean is not just ahead, he is head and shoulders ahead…and the rest of these people seem to be largely floundering,” Koppel said before the debate. “They’re all being dominated by a formerly invisible governor from Vermont who must know something they don’t. Why is that?”
Koppel first asked all the candidates to raise their hands if they thought Dean could defeat President Bush in next year’s election. Only Dean raised his hand.
Later in the debate Koppel asked the Rev. Al Sharpton, former U.S. Sen. Carol Mosely Braun of Illinois, and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio when they planned to abandon their seemingly hopeless efforts, asking whether they were pursuing “sort of a vanity candidacy.” He followed by telling Edwards, “You’re not doing terrific in the polls, either. And you do have a lot of money, and you came into this race with huge expectations being raised.
“What’s gone wrong with the campaign?” Koppel asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” Edwards said. “What’s about to happen is the real campaign is about to occur.”
On “Crossfire” Thursday, Edwards insisted that Dean wouldn’t be the Democratic nominee after Carlson pressed him to explain why he didn’t think Dean could defeat Bush in a general election.
“Voters are just now starting to pay attention,” Edwards said. “And what will happen is what’s always happened in these multicandidate races. There’s going to be huge changes between now and the New Hampshire primary, the Iowa caucuses, the South Carolina primary.”
Edwards said he could “compete everywhere in America…for example, in these key Southern states, we have to be able to compete not just in the urban areas, but also in the rural areas, small towns, small communities.”
“We don’t win statewide elections in Southern states unless we have a candidate who can compete in those areas,” Edwards said. “It’s why Jim Hunt was elected governor four times in North Carolina.”
The “Crossfire” broadcast began with Carlson and liberal cohost Paul Begala meeting Edwards in a local restaurant, then walking with him to talk on the “Election Express” bus. As they strolled, Begala asked whether people he spoke with were “suspicious of the Medicare bill” recently signed by the president, which dramatically increases federal entitlements on prescription drugs.
“Yes, they’re very suspicious about it, because they see the money going to HMOs,” Edwards said. He said he believed it could be a key election issue with Bush. “They see the lack of any cost controls on prescription drugs.”
Carlson then took an opposite tack.
“What about flipping it around and going after Bush as a big spender?” he asked Edwards. “Does that work for you?”
After some laughter, Carlson said, “No, really. No, I mean, he’s taking hits from the right, and I’ve seen some Democrats make that point.”
“You’re right,” Edwards said. “That’s true, particularly not bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.”
The group then arrived at the “Election Express.”
“Oh, cool bus,” Edwards said.
Paul Chesser is associate editor of Carolina Journal. Contact him at [email protected].