What a waste. When John Edwards decided to get into N.C. politics and came from nowhere to win the 1998 U.S. Senate race here, a lot of folks thought he might become a great U.S. Senator, knuckle down to representing the interests of working folks in North Carolina, pay attention of business and build tenure in Washington. It's the kind of thing that Sam Ervin and Jesse Helms understood: Become a long-term presence in Washington and you have a chance to have long-term impact on policy.
And it seemed that Edwards had a winning approach. He ran as a Southern moderate with a strong populist appeal, and it appeared he was in line to become a Senate rainmaker. Alas, that hope began waning just a few years after he was elected, when Edwards began pursuing a spot on the presidential ticket. After a promising early start in the Senate, where it looked like he might have an impact on the health care debate, Edwards committed to national politics and seemed never to look back. His politics turned leftward, and he lost some support in North Carolina he once had among voters who in 1998 saw him as a new and independent voice.
Still, he retained a hard core of N.C. supporters who believed in him and his message, and who today are expressing their anguish on the Internet over what they see as a betrayal -- of his wife, of his party, of those who worked hard in his behalf and of the truth they once thought Edwards would champion.
What a waste.
