Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Sen. John Edwards, candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, championed her husband's proposals and her own commitment to education in two appearances on Grounds yesterday.
The events, one at the Education School and the other at the Law School, were just one stop on Elizabeth Edwards' nationwide tour as the nine candidates for the Democratic Party nomination gear up for state primaries. Virginia's primary takes place Feb. 10, giving the Commonwealth an earlier and more influential position than it previously has held in the series of state primaries.
Edwards emphasized her own roots in Virginia, where she attended Mary Washington College, as well as her husband's allure to voters in the Commonwealth as a candidate hailing from the neighboring state of North Carolina.
"We think [his policies] will be appealing to people in Virginia -- people in Virginia are a lot like people in North Carolina," Edwards said in an interview following the Education School roundtable.
At the Education School, she praised a group of current and future teachers on their chosen profession and exchanged opinions about the state of special education, the merits of small schools and the role of schools in communities. Edwards also expressed dismay at what she characterized as the low prioritization of education in President George W. Bush's administration and said an Edwards White House would put education near the top of its agenda.
"The part of [John Edwards'] program to improve education is the part that's dearest to his heart," Edwards said. "I'm very disappointed that the president is anti-education, treats education as something you have to sit through."
In the interview, she said the Edwards focus on education extends to higher education, with a program that would provide federal funding for one year of college if prospective students worked or did community service 10 hours a week. She pointed to her husband's working-class background as motivation for the proposal.
"There were a lot of hurdles for someone from his family to go to college," Edwards said. "He wants to sort of grease that path."
While singing the praises of college, particularly as a tool to boost the number of math, science and technology experts in order to compete with the rest of the world, Edwards said she and her husband place an equal importance on technical education.
"We have, as a country, sometimes forgotten that it is not investment bankers who built this country," Edwards said, adding that most jobs desperately needing to be filled do not require a college degree. "We need to think both about enriching people's lives, but also think whether we are setting people up for debt and career hurdles."
Edwards, a lawyer herself, finished her Charlottesville visit at the Law School, where she fielded some tough questions. She declined to take a stance on gay marriage, and tried to dispel the image of her husband as a long-shot candidate or a heartless trial lawyer.
"He's not anti-business, he's not anti-wealth," she assured the crowd of Law students. She added that her husband consistently is rising in North Carolina polls.
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato, who moderated the Law school question and answer session but stressed that his presence was in no way an endorsement, said he thought Elizabeth Edwards was a powerful figure.
"Mrs. Edwards was a very impressive individual," Sabato said. "It's clear that if her husband is elected to the White House, she will be a full partner."
He said the impact of her husband's campaign still is up in the air.
"Edwards is still clustered in the pack -- that's a problem for him," Sabato said. "It could be remedied with enough money and with sufficient gaffes by his opponents -- things can change, it's early."
Edwards' visit to the Law school was orchestrated by Law student Jeff Meagher, a member of the Law Democrats as well as the U.Va. Students for Edwards, who expressed his confidence in Edwards as the best candidate to run against Bush.
"I think he's probably the best communicator the Democratic Party's seen since Clinton," Meagher said. "He has an agenda beyond just bashing Bush -- he has a positive outlook."
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