On the eve of Oprah's big show with Barack Obama at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina, some of John Edwards' black supporters in the Palmetto State aren't thrilled about it, Katharine Q. Seelye reports for The New York Times:
And on a conference call today, supporters of former Senator John Edwards expressed dissatisfaction with Ms. Winfrey for coming here but not addressing issues like education, health care or poor conditions facing senior citizens."If you can build a school in South Africa, build one in South Carolina," Linda Dogan, a member of the City Council in Spartanburg, said on the conference call, which was organized by the Edwards campaign.
The stated purpose of the call was for several prominent African-Americans who support Mr. Edwards to discuss the candidate's "plan for opportunity."
* * * * *
Ms. Dogan said that as a black woman, Ms. Winfrey's visit "doesn't mean anything to me" if she is not going to deal with local issues. "It makes me a little ill," she said, noting that Ms. Winfrey is extremely wealthy. "Oprah coming here means absolutely nothing to me unless she's going to do something for South Carolina," she said.
John Moylan, Mr. Edwards's South Carolina director, said that the call was not about Ms. Winfrey but about opportunity.
Tyrone Freeman, president of the United Long Term Care Workers West, of the Service Employees International Union, suggested that Ms. Winfrey was the only way to get the attention of the news media, which, he said, had been "unjust" by not covering the important issues that Mr. Edwards is raising. "All of us would do this call every week," he said. "It's only now because of Oprah we can get your attention."
Read the whole article at the above link. Wow, Oprah better be bringing some extra-special gift bags to South Carolina if she expects to woo these Edwards backers onto Obama's bandwagon!
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Filed under:
2008 Presidential Race, Democrats, Edwards, Primaries, Republican, South Carolina
Tags: Democrats, Edwards, Obama, Oprah, presidential campaign, primaries, South Carolina
Comments (1)
Edwards and his supporters ... (Below threshold)1. Posted by COgirl | December 9, 2007 11:07 AM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Edwards and his supporters would be singing a different tune if Oprah was behind the Breck boy. This is just politics as usual.
1. Posted by COgirl | December 9, 2007 11:07 AM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on December 9, 2007 11:07