Photography is Not a Crime

By Carlos Miller
For the last two years, it seemed as if the only two democratic candidates running for president were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It was the perfect scenario. A minority against a minority. History in the making. A media multiple orgasm destined for a Hollywood script.

Meanwhile, John Edwards was busy campaigning throughout the country, including a stop in Miami in 2006 when he gave a fiery speech in support of the University of Miami janitors who were on strike.

Although many of these janitors barely understood English, they understood loud and clear that he was fighting for them. They ended up victorious in their campaign for better wages, benefits and the right to unionize.

And while the media was busy creating a Lifetime/BET Movie of the Week between Clinton and Obama in Iowa, Edwards was doing the same thing he had done in Miami; connecting with the salt of the earth, the working men and women.

Except this being Iowa, they understood every word he said. He ended up topping Clinton in the Iowa caucus and coming in second to Obama.

And on Saturday night, he destroyed Obama and Clinton in the nationally televised debates, showing the world just how he became a multimillionaire trial lawyer. He came across as sharp, sincere and impassioned.

In fact, the latest national polls show that Edwards received the biggest bounce from the debates: Shooting up nine points from 14 to 23 percent; while Obama gained a single point, inching up one point from 24 to 25 percent; and Clinton lost seven points, dropping from 43 percent to 36 percent.

Even in South Florida, he is the people’s choice for president when it comes to candidates from both parties, according to an active, but unscientific Sun-Sentinel online poll.

But the media is stubborn. They hate to rewrite the news. Keep in mind that this is an institution that writes people’s obituaries before they die. The last thing they want is a southern white man from a working class family to win the democratic primary. That is so 1992.

So with the exception of a Sunday Washington Post article buried deep on page A8 titled “What about John Edwards?”, they still choose to ignore Edwards.

But Edwards, who grew up in a poor mining family in North Carolina, working his way through college while he lived with his grandmother, is proving to be one resilient SOB. There is no telling what might happen on Tuesday during New Hampshire’s primary election.

But even if he doesn’t come out on top, Edwards has vowed to remain in the election until the Democratic Convention, according to a CNN news brief that seemed to suggest he was on his deathbed.

In the days leading up to the New Hampshire primaries, Edwards has been running television ad where he describes himself as an “underdog”.

And if there is one thing America loves, not to mention Hollywood producers, it is an underdog.

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