Cancer Recurrence Casts Shadow on Campaign: Edwards Says He Will Remain a Candidate, but How Illness

Mar 23, 05:20 AM

Current Headlines: By Dave Helling, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Mar. 23--Democrats and Republicans agreed Thursday: Their thoughts and prayers are with John and Elizabeth Edwards as she again battles cancer.

But they disagreed on what difficulties Edwards will face in continuing his presidential campaign.

Elizabeth Edwards said she hadn't considered asking her husband to withdraw from the campaign. "It's unbelievably important that we get this election right," she said.

The former Democratic senator and vice presidential candidate agreed:

"The campaign goes on," he said. "The campaign goes on strongly."

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who backed Edwards in the 2004 campaign, wasn't so sure.

"Senator Edwards will have a tough time, I think, just carrying on a campaign. I think it is going to be very disruptive."

"I was very surprised that he kept running," agreed Woody Overton, who worked for the John Kerry and Bill Clinton campaigns. "It's going to be very difficult for him to stay on message ... obviously he's going to be thinking of his wife first and foremost."

But Marc Farinella, who ran Sen. Evan Bayh's aborted presidential campaign, said any obstacles "can be overcome."

"In times like these it's really important for the consultants to get out of the way and let the candidate and spouse speak for themselves," Farinella said.

Edwards canceled an appearance in Iowa this week. Polls show he is popular in the state, the site of the first caucuses of the presidential campaign. An average of seven polls, published by U.S. News and World Report, showed Edwards leading the Democratic field in Iowa, beating both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama with 23 percent support among the state's Democrats.

Some supporters in Iowa remain committed.

"Millions of Americans are going through this same battle," said Barb Miller, Polk County coordinator for Iowans for Edwards, a group not connected to the campaign. "That's a very positive message of hope they have just given to millions."

Farinella, now a Florida-based consultant, ran Jean Carnahan's Missouri Senate campaign in 2000. He watched the Edwards news conference, and noted similarities between the couple's statements and the newly widowed Carnahan's self-composed remarks when she entered the race.

"She was true to herself in talking with the people of Missouri, and that's exactly what the Edwards should be doing," he said.

Friends and supporters in the Kansas City area said concerns that Elizabeth's illness would affect the campaign were premature.

"It's all speculation," said Leawood attorney Jim Bartimus, a longtime Edwards supporter and fundraiser. "None of us knows the extent of the recurrence (of the cancer). ... John's priorities have always been straight and they'll continue to be straight," he said.

Edwards last campaigned in Kansas City six weeks ago, meeting with local labor leaders and raising money.

Louie Wright, president of firefighters' union Local 42, talked with Edwards during the visit.

"I liked his positions on working people and working family issues" like health care, Wright said. "Virtually everyone believes he's in the top tier."

Some Democrats said voters might think first about Elizabeth Edwards' illness during campaign stops. But Joe O'Neill, a Washington-based Democratic consultant, said Edwards probably had worked through that concern before announcing the continuation of his campaign.

"He's a terribly articulate guy," O'Neill said. "He will have it pretty clear in his head, and he'll be ready to respond."

And respond, Edwards did.

"Basically we've been confronted with these kinds of traumas and struggles already in our life, and we know from our previous experience we have a choice," he said. "You can cower in the corner and hide or you can go out there and be tough and stand up for what you believe in. ...

"We have no intention of cowering in the corner, none whatever."

McClatchy Newspapers contributed to this report. To reach Dave Helling, call (816) 234-4656 or send e-mail to dhelling@kcstar.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

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