I'm going to start making it a habit to post about upcoming events in New York City as I hear about them. Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century is a great organization that plans and puts on forums, book reviews, FAQs, and other political events. I've never been able to attend an event (I've spent the past four years in Binghamton, for the most part) but I'm hoping to change that with some of these upcoming programs.
If nothing else, John Edwards is a trooper. Hours after a press conference announcing his wife's cancer recurrence, Edwards made scheduled appearance in NYC as part of DL21C's "Road to the White House" series. Though he was obviously and quite understandably tired, he soldiered on and gave what appeared to be an only slightly modified stump speech. He did touch on the events of the previous 48 hours a few times and the capacity crowd received him very, very warmly. Much of the chatter before his arrival was simply about how amazed many folks were that this event was still happening.
The contrast between last night's event and last week's appearance by Wes Clark was pretty stark in some ways. First, while Clark's event was certainly very well attended, there was virtually no press present. Every TV outlet in town had satellite trucks out front of the venue last night. There was also quite a line of folks waiting to get in to see Edwards. It seemed everyone in town wanted to be a part of this event.
Good news tempered with news that could be better. The good news is that John Edwards will not be suspending his campaign. The not so good news is that Elizabeth Edwards' cancer has returned and is "no longer curable, but is treatable". John likened it to diabetes.
There is no link yet, but Edwards just said that the "campaign goes on" and that there "would be no change whatsoever." He also said that he and Elizabeth were leaving the press conference and going to straight to New York.
I've got a real bad feeling about this. As you may know, John Edwards was supposed to be here in NYC tomorrow night. I was planning to shoot video of the event. Now the New York Times is reporting that John has called a press conference tomorrow in Chapel Hill, NC to discuss his wife's health.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards accompanied his wife, Elizabeth, who has been treated for breast cancer, on a doctor's visit Wednesday. His campaign said they would hold a news conference in their hometown Thursday to discuss her health.
Campaign officials refused to answer any questions about what the Edwardses learned at the doctor's appointment or how it might affect his candidacy. Edwards had cut short a trip to Iowa Tuesday night to be with his wife Wednesday but still attended a barbecue fundraiser later in the evening in their hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C.
The campaign had said that Mrs. Edwards, 57, had a follow-up appointment to a routine test she had Monday. The campaign explained that she had similar follow-ups in the past but they always resulted in a clean bill of health.
The campaign refused to elaborate Wednesday. Family friends said Wednesday night that they didn't know of any new complications to her health.
You don't start canceling events and holding noontime pressers to tell the world that your wife is perfectly healthy and that you are going to soldier on. Rumor has it that he's out.
And that's a damn shame. My thoughts are with Elizabeth, John and their family.
John Edwards is suspending his campaign for President, and may drop out completely, because his wife has suffered a recurrence of the cancer that sickened her in 2004, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, an Edwards friend told The Politico.
"At a minimum he's going to suspend" the campaign, the source said. "Nobody knows precisely how serious her recurrence is. It'll be another couple of days before there's complete clarity."
"For him right now he has one priority which is her health and the security of the two young children," said the friend.
As for the campaign, "You don't shut this machine off completely, but everything will go on hold."
Damn.
UPDATE 2: The Politico is full of it.
John Edwards just now, "The campaign goes on. There will be no change whatsoever."
A single, confident source close to John Edwards told me this morning that Edwards was "suspending his campaign," and I posted it to the blog at 11:06 this morning.
My source, and I, were wrong.
The source, whose anonymity I agreed to respect, spoke of the kind of grim prognosis Elizabeth Edwards herself just described hearing before a second round of tests came back. I trusted the source, somebody I've known for several years, and who has always been reliable.
And with less than an hour before Edwards was to announce, I unwisely wrote the item without getting a second source.
When the campaign pushed back harder than I'd expected, I added that information to the original item, but that doesn't undo the damage.
My apologies to our readers for passing on bad information.
John Edwards will be making an appearance here in NYC on Thursday as part of DL21C's Road To the White House series. I'll be there and will try to shoot some video, though I certainly hope Edwards will not be standing in a black hole like Wes Clark was last week. Here's the details for Thursday:
DL21C's Road to the White House series continues with....
Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee
John Edwards (D-NC)
Thursday, March 22
7:30 pm at
Branch
226 E. 54th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Aves.)
E/V train to Lexington Avenue/ 6 train to 51st St branchny.com
Free for members, $7 non-members
To learn more about John Edwards, please visit johnedwards.com
General Wesley Clark was in town last night to speak at an event sponsored by DL21C in Manhattan. The event was well attended by all the usual suspects, Eric Massa even made an appearance, and General Clark spoke for a good 45 minutes or so. He spoke repeatedly of "restoring America's legitimacy in the world" and of his disgust with the policies pursued by the current "administration". He was particularly passionate about their condoning torture and the use of military commissions saying "This is not the America I fought for in uniform." Overall, it was a perfectly fine speech for the most part, even if it was a little flat in places. He repeatedly teased the crowd with references to a potential prsidential run. At one point he told the crowd that "Every morning I wake up lusting to be back in New Hampshire."
Here is the first part of video I shot of the speech. I apologize for the quality. It was a dark room to begin with and the DL21C folks decided to put the General in the absolute darkest patch in the space. (Clark also delivered his talk standing on an ottoman just so people could see him) Watch this space for more segments throughout the day. I'll be posting them as fast as I can process them.
