including for Edwards and 'non-decided' (now that was weird). A very frail Bethine Church, widow of former Idaho Senator Frank Church, was lifted from her wheelchair onto the stage, where she spoke for Hillary. She said she had received a call from Bill asking her to do so. Boise Mayor Dave Bieter spoke for Obama. The most eloquent speech by far, though, was delivered by Kurt Holzer of 'Idahoans for Edwards':
I am a John Edwards Democrat.
Tonight I will cast my initial caucus ballot for Senator Edwards.
I may need to cast a re-caucus ballot for either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. The same is true of the many others who supported Sen. Edwards in this campaign.
But we will remain John Edwards Democrats.
John Edwards voice drove the campaign for our party’s Presidential nomination to being one of bold, progressive, Democratic ideas: First health care plan, first climate change strategy, first economic stimulus package, first program for a green economy, first with a rural recovery plan and much much more.
In this campaign John Edwards spoke for the voiceless.
He spoke for James Lowe who spent 50 years unable to speak for himself because he needed surgery for a cleft palate and had no money. 50 years voiceless in America is wrong. John Edwards made sure we all knew that wrongs like this still exist in America. But that, together, we can right them.
I am a John Edwards Democrat because John Edwards made Universal Health Care key to this campaign. When this country gets, as it will, Universal Health Care it will have John Edwards to thank.
He spoke for the Survivors of Katrina and all the economic issues they represent. From the first day of his campaign to the last John Edwards told America it is a better place than the reflection we see from the mess that is still New Orleans. A mess compounded and magnified by the incompetence and heartlessness of George Bush and his cronies.
John Edwards reminded us that we, as citizens and together as a government, have a moral responsibility to each other. And what we do together matters.
John Edwards spoke for the veteran who tonight here in Boise prepares to sleep under a bridge. A man who is but one of the 200,000 men and women that wore the uniform of our country honorably and did their part to protect our Freedom, but has no home. Whether for financial reasons, mental health reasons substance abuse reasons, it does not matter, they deserve our help.
John Edwards spoke to say UNION labor matters. He was proud to walk the picket lines, and unrelenting in his support of helping workers organize. John Edwards knows exactly which side he is on. Facing a Washington DC filled with corporate insiders, lobbyists and PACs all working to lift their narrow interests over the public interests John Edwards said: NO to your money, NO to your negative influence and NO to getting in bed with you.
John Edwards spoke up because we Democrats lost our focus on the struggles of ordinary people. For years our party turned ever further away from the cause of working people, away from the fathers working three jobs to pay the rent, away from mothers sending their kids to bed wrapped up in their clothes and in coats because they cant afford to pay for heat.
I am a John Edwards Democrat because John Edwards spoke for:
One America where the men who work the late shift and the women who get up at dawn to drive a two-hour commute and the student working late nights to save money for college are honored for that work and paid a wage sufficient to live on;
One America where every man woman and child has health care;
One America where no child goes to bed hungry because we commit to ending the moral shame of having 37 million Americans living in poverty;
John Edwards spoke up and said unless we elect those who will stand for economic justice there will not be economic justice. And without economic justice we cannot have One America.
I am a John Edwards Democrat because John Edwards ran a campaign founded on the idea that the time has come for Americans to be patriotic about something other than war.
He ran a campaign based on ideas not personality.
And his campaign made EVERY candidate’s campaign focus on ideas.
Tonight, I may need to give my vote to another candidate.
Whichever candidate our party selects, we will make history.
Whether it is Senator Obama’s message of change and hope or Senator Clinton’s message of toughness and experience, each offers great things for our country.
One thing everyone here tonight should be sure of is that with our help our nominee, whoever it is, will become the next President of the United States.
Whoever that nominee is, John Edwards’ voice made a difference in how they will govern.
Because we as a party are again talking about those without, instead of just those who have.
We are again talking about our moral responsibility of creating an American future better than the America given us.
We are again talking about our shared responsibilities.
I am proud to be a John Edwards Democrat and my respect and appreciation for Senator Edwards will be reflected in my initial vote in this caucus.
If we Edwards Democrats cast a recaucus ballot tonight for Senator Clinton or Senator Obama we will cast that ballot with some sadness but not regret. We will cast it proudly, because we are proud to be Democrats.
And all of us should be proud to be part of this party now marked by Senator Edwards’ revival of these issues of economic justice. These are the issues that define our party and our parties’ progressive heroes: People like Franklin Roosevelt, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, Bobby Kennedy and Jesse Jackson.
Icons who understood a fundamental truth, government CAN make society better.
Embracing that, the greatest of our party’s traditions, Senator Edwards’ voice in this campaign taught us all again that our society stands tallest when we—together--bend down to help those who need us.
Everyone at a caucus tonight who believes in these issues of economic justice,
Who thinks we need to lift up those who need us;
Everyone, no matter who you vote for;
Every Democrat no matter who you support;
No matter how else you describe yourself;
Everyone can also say and be proud to say;
I am a John Edwards Democrat
Because as John Edwards spoke about issues this year it became ever more clear
We are all John Edwards Democrats.
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