Elizabeth Edwards

One constituency in particular has proven especially fruitful for the Republican Party through the years: Prominent football coaches. For whatever reason - a natural sympathy for autocratic leadership, perhaps? - the G.O.P. has had no shortage of sideline generals to showcase through the years, a tradition that the party will renew tonight when former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs addresses the convention just before 9:00.

Other well-known coaches who have assumed prominent roles in Republican Party politics through the years include:

* Bud Wilkinson - Led the Oklahoma Sooners to three national titles and 145 victories - including a 47-game winning streak between 1953 and 1957 - before seeking to parlay his in-state popularity into a 1964 U.  read more »

Edwards spokesman Matthew Nelson just sent over this response to a question I asked about the assertion in today's Times story suggesting that Elizabeth Edwards was pressuring John Edwards to endorse Hillary Clinton:

"Unless you're hearing from John or Elizabeth themselves, and not unnamed sources, I wouldn't put much stock in it. Information is currency in politics, and there is a lot of fake currency floating around out there.  read more »

It certainly seemed last night that John Edwards had thrown his lot in with Barack Obama last night in his attempt to get Hillary Clinton out of the race as soon as possible, defending the Illinois senator fiercely against her criticisms.

But Elizabeth Edwards said that her husband did it, Drago-like, for himself.

“John was defending that he actually is a change candidate,” she said after the debate at Saint Anselm College. “Every time we have someone saying they are an agent of change, someone from the status quo comes along attacking them.”

So, she said, her husband came to the rescue.  read more »

Last night, the entire Edwards family showed up for a campaign event in Indianola, Iowa. Edwards gave a stump speech and answered some questions, while his wife and parents sat behind him and his kids watched a movie on the campaign bus.

At one point, a man in a blue jacket, who identified himself as a former legislator and Kucinich supporter, asked a long question about health care in which he basically lamented the fact that none of the candidates—except Kucinich—advocated a single-payer health care system.

Edwards then gave a long, detailed answer about his plan. He argued that part of it was set up as single-payer, but that it also gave Americans, many of whom did not want a single-payer system, more of a choice. He kept repeating that basic point in different ways, being careful not to offend any given side, when his wife stood up behind him.  read more »