The Campaign Trail Less Traveled

Scenes behind the interviews by Sean Carberry

Click here to listen to the interview

Nov. 6, 2003: Swanzey, NH. Senator John Edwards wasn’t off to the best start on this day of his campaign. He arrived late at Monadnock Regional High School for his town hall event with an auditorium full of students. After a rousing welcome by the school’s marching band and a brief introduction by a teacher, Edwards began with a statement about himself and his policies. He recounted his past, his working-class upbringing, his experiences with segregation and discrimination. “I saw the incredible disrespect with which some of my fellow Americans were treated,” he said. “I think that people like me have a special responsibility to not follow but to lead when it comes to civil rights issues in this country.”

After ten to fifteen minutes of speaking about his basic positions on healthcare, Iraq, jobs, financial aid, delivering the requisite jabs at President Bush, and pushing heavily the issues of race and civil rights, he finally opened up the floor to questions from the students.

The second question came from a student named Oliver who challenged the senator on his position on the war in Iraq. He went straight at the senator for voting to authorize the use of force and later criticizing the president and the war, and for voting against the $87 billion supplemental spending bill. “So why did your opinion change,” he asked, “because it just seems like you were going along with the crowd…” The question elicited oohhs and ahhs from the students who felt it was a gutsy question to ask.

In the middle of answering the question, the school bell rang. “Oh, is that the bell?” the senator asked. He paused briefly and then resumed with his answer. A minute later, a voice came over the intercom announcing the period had ended. The senator paused again, but returned to answering the question.

Then the ultimate insult came as a school administrator interrupted the senator in mid sentence and took the microphone. “This is still an American occupation right now,” Edwards said, “which I feel is an enormous mistake. If we want to… do you need to say something?”

“Anybody that has a class needs to leave now. Juniors and seniors that do not have class can stay, but unfortunately we have junior high kids that need to eat lunch…”

With that, the majority of the students got up and walked out, leaving the senator in the well of the auditorium, looking shocked, but still composed. A number of students approached him and began asking questions.

To say it was awkward is an understatement. It was rude on the part of the school not to plan around their morning schedule, and it certainly seemed like an insult to Edwards that the school felt it was more important for students to get to class than to spend another 15 minutes listening to a United States Senator speaking about his run for the nation’s highest office.

After about 5 minutes of students filing out, and a few filing in, the senator began taking questions again. The students who did ask questions, asked thoughtful questions about specific policy issues: Iraq, welfare, healthcare, gun control, college financial aid—they asked serious questions about serious subjects (unlike many of the questions at the Rock the Vote forum in Boston).

But… it was still rocky. The upheaval in the middle of the event was enough to throw even the most sure-footed candidate off balance. Still, Edwards handled the event with aplomb, although he must have been fuming deep down. He was charming and prompted a laugh here and there, although he didn’t demonstrate any fire or passion. He came across like a good teacher—personable, intelligent, and relaxed, but not compelling. He’s more laconic than electric.

After leaving the school he proceeded to a closed-door meeting at the Keene Sentinel—presumably about a possible endorsement (I have no idea if the meeting went well or not). After the meeting, we were invited onto the bus, and we took seats in the back “lounge” while the candidate ate a quick lunch.

After he finished, we were escorted to the mid-section of the bus (the same campaign bus John McCain used in 2000), and Bob Oakes sat down at the small table with the senator and began the interview. After a couple of minutes I caught on that something else kept attracting Edwards’ attention, and I looked towards the front of the bus and saw a large television showing live coverage of President Bush signing the $87 billion wartime supplemental bill. That explained it. How could Senator Edwards not focus on the president signing a piece of legislation that had bitterly divided the Senate—a piece of legislation that Edwards had strongly opposed due to his disappointment of the president’s handling of the war?

Undaunted, we pressed on knowing that at any moment the bus would stop and we’d be escorted off, so we couldn’t afford to try to loosen the senator up with small talk. Most of the answers the senator gave were clearly well practiced – he rarely made eye contact with Bob as he recited his answers. By and large, the senator did not seem engaged in the interview and appeared to be phoning it in – this was not a reassuring feeling considering this man is running for president.

A few instances Bob asked pointy questions – one about the criticism that Senator Edwards didn’t have enough foreign policy experience – and Edwards showed more fire. He defensively and somewhat angrily rebutted the charge (clearly this question had been nagging him over the course of the campaign). In fact, a couple of times he seemed on the edge of hostility. Generally he seemed quick to rile during the interview – was it because of the events of the day or a personality trait? It’s difficult to make a judgment of that nature after spending 20 minutes with the man during a trying day on the trail.

We still had several questions to ask the senator, but the bus had stopped, and I felt a tugging at my coat. One of Edwards’ staff members was politely letting me know the bus had stopped because it was time for us to get off. We quickly wrapped the interview, and hopped off the bus (Bob kind of slid off), and my car was in a line of cars waiting behind the bus. A staffer got out of my car, and into the car of another journalist who had been following along waiting for her turn with the senator. It was a media convoy, and it was clear the senator was not going to get any downtime.

In the end it was obvious that Senator Edwards had a lot on his mind, and could have used the time to digest his lunch, but he graciously spent some time with us and put up with us asking the same questions he’d been hearing for months. (I should also note that around the time we were interviewing the senator, Howard Dean was meeting with the SEIU about their decision whether or not to endorse him, which they did, and Senator Edwards was certainly aware that the endorsement would make things tougher for him as this campaign progressed.) It’s tough being a candidate on a good day, and this was not a particularly good day on the campaign trail for Senator Edwards.