It's difficult not to be skeptical about this guy's "authenticity". Two issues -- First, he's certainly a capable message creator and an articulate communicator, but that kind of goes with the turf of being a hugely successful trial lawyer. I've been told by some friends that trial lawyers are standing up for the little guy and some trial lawyers obviously do. But the trial bar industry is deeply flawed with its huge cut of settlements and the damage that it does to entrepreneurs and corporations that can penalize in a way that leads to job losses while only benefitting the lawyers and the ambulance chasing approach to attacking the health care industry-- physicians, hospitals, and drug makers-- that is not an insignificant part of the continuing meteoric rise in health care costs of American workers. A friend of mine and real estate lawyer in Kentucky told me recently that his oldest son was now practicing trial law in Nashville and that was ok with him as we are better with the distance. His follow on comment was telling, "He's now working on passing the bar exam in Kentucky so he can start suing people here too". Second, it just seems that the last thing we need in a president now is another "authentic" Southerner trying to practice his down home approach on the rest of the world. Whether it is fair or not, George Bush has poisoned the well on this approach to foreign policy. If what we see now is the real Edwards on the back of a pick up truck in jeans and a big ole, well, grin or not the real Edwards doesn't matter, because this image projection is what the rest of the world sees and appearances matter. Everyone can have their opinions on his approach to various issues and solutions he suggests, but those two are the big deals for me. And the haircut, silly, the big house, informative, but those are not really important. If there are Daily Yonder readers out there who take issue, set me straight.

Men's Vogue or not, John Edwards is who we need to lead our great nation. How can people question a person's authenticity, who has reached the "American Dream". Having personally seen Mr. Edwards twice, shook his hand and spoken to him, I can personally vouch for him. Being from the "Show Me" state, I am not easily impressed. John Edwards impresses me very much! When he is speaking you can see the passion in his eyes and the compasion in his heart. Who else is willing to even speak about poverty, health care, and has activily worked to improve the lives of working class americans. By helping workers organize and have a say in there wages, benefits and working conditions John is keeping democracy alive. This strategy will also be used to keep Family Farmers going strong and keep CAFO's from ruining our country. When we loose our working class, our family farms and forget about the poor, we loose track of the values our nation was founded on. We must stop the war on working americans, we must elect a President with personal experience, we must elect John Edwards!