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Date Published: January 31, 2004
Making a final push
Edwards speaks at USC Sumter
Keith Gedamke / The Item
Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., speaks to the crowd attending his speech at the University of South Carolina Sumter on Friday.
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By BRADEN BUNCH
Item Staff Writer
bradenb@theitem.com
Presidential hopeful John Edwards made his final stop in Sumter on Friday afternoon as the campaign winds down before the South Carolina Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday.
Speaking outside Anderson Library on the USC Sumter campus, the North Carolina senator, a Seneca native, inserted local issues as examples of the problems he has been arguing against for some time on the campaign trail.
Edwards began by making a direct reference to the announcement from Bosch Braking Systems this week that about 400 local jobs are going to be relocated to Mexico for the company to take advantage of lower labor costs.
An opponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Edwards said his administration would fight against trade agreements that didn’t also include fair labor agreements as well.
“We’ve got enough free trade in America, but what about fair trade?” Edwards posed to the crowd of about 100 people, who responded with cheers.
Edwards also referenced another issue close to Sumterites by saying he was opposed to the Base Realignment and Closure or BRAC process, and would fight to protect Shaw Air Force Base, or any other base, from closing.
“He’s talking about closing bases, but he doesn’t know what’s going on,” Edwards said about President George Bush, adding that the federal government has not come close to determining what the economic effect might be from closing bases in smaller towns like Sumter.
Edwards, who also stressed he is the best candidate to defeat Bush in the November general election, was surrounded on the library steps by local politicians including state Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Manning, and state House Rep. David Weeks, D-Sumter trying to convince those in attendance that Edwards would win South Carolina.
“He will bring government back to you,” Land said while introducing the senator.
The Sumter visit was one of several stops of the day for Edwards, who finds himself in an apparently tight race to win the bulk of the Palmetto State delegates.
A Zogby International poll released Friday showed Edwards and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry in a statistical dead heat, with Edwards receiving 25 percent to Kerry’s 24 percent.
No other candidate received double-digit support in the poll. Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was running third, with 9 percent of the vote, while 22 percent of the likely voters questioned during the poll were undecided.
So the rally was not only an opportunity for Edwards to reach out to the undecided, but also a chance for the local undecided to hear from the candidate.
USC Sumter student Adam Hall said he was considering voting for Edwards, but wanted to attend the rally to hear the candidate in person.
“I’m a Republican, but I’m not too impressed by Bush right now,” said the 19-year-old preparing to vote in his first presidential race.
Another first-time voter, 18-year-old Sumter High School student Mike Strickland, has been campaigning for Edwards and said the senator was the clear choice for people his age.
Strickland said the other front-runners, like Dean and Kerry, seemed to be unable to relate to his generation.
“That kind of politician doesn’t appeal to us,” Strickland said. “They seem too fake.”
Contact Staff Writer Braden Bunch at bradenb@theitem.com or 803-774-1222.
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February 20, 2004
