Well, friends... I took the big plunge yesterday and drove up to Manchester, NH to stand out in the cold rain, for six hours, on a grimy street corner in front of an abandoned Chinese restaurant. I carried signs and shouted rhyming slogans at passing motorists all day long. I didn't wear a jacket because I couldn't bear the thought of passing citizens not reading the words printed on the front of my green t-shirt. What were those words? John Edwards '08. And the most incredible thing about my whole day was that I wasn't alone! There were many other hardy souls who drove up from Rhode Island and Massachusetts to cheer on this man from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There was a student from State College, Pennsylvania who has committed to working for several months on the Edwards campaign. There were people from all over the country, and from all walks of life, sharing their stories, getting soaked, and loving every minute of it! An old schoolbus drove hordes of volunteers to the debate site, where the crowds were warmly enthusiastic despite the dismal, gray weather. I spoke to townspeople waiting at the stoplight who smiled, gave us the thumbs up and wished us good luck.

I must admit I was overwhelmed by the large outpouring of support for Edwards that I witnessed Sunday afternoon in Manchester. And what was very obvious to me was that this was strong, deep support for a man that people saw as "their" guy. Much like the enthusiasm I recall for Jesse Jackson years ago, this was all about John Edwards as a man who cared about and understood the concerns of working people. On health care, Iraq, fairness to workers, restoring the U.S.A's moral standing in the world, what Edwards had to say clearly resonated with large numbers of ordinary folks.

I think David Bonior explains Edwards' grassroots appeal very well in his recent interview for Newsweek :

" I haven't seen someone as a national figure do as much on workers' rights and poverty in my lifetime. That includes Bobby Kennedy and people in politics in the ‘60s. He helped organize people in probably 85 different actions, from hotel workers to university janitors to people who work in buildings and factories. He was out there demonstrating, marching, picketing, writing letters to CEOs, demanding that [workers] have the right to organize and represent themselves. He started a center on poverty and became the director at the University of North Carolina. He traveled the country and was a leader in getting a minimum-wage bill passed in eight states….That means a lot to me."

It means a lot to the teachers, waitresses, mechanics, college kids, truck drivers, small-business owners, professonals, and even Christian rock musicians who seem tuned in to what John Edwards has to say. It means a lot to this medieval historian turned labor activist who hopes John Edwards gets a crack, as our next president, at restoring this proud nation from the horrific damages inflicted on it by the Bush regime.