John Edwards Barnstorms Atlanta

The IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Union Hall on Pulliam Street in downtown Atlanta filled pretty quickly as 2:30 approached. John Edwards placards were everywhere. One homemade posterboard sign read: "John Edwards for our children". Another read: "Let's Put Elizabeth In The White House".

Some prospective voters had brought their children. Nearly everyone had a camera. In all, about 500 people had braved Atlanta's worst snowstorm in years to see what the Democratic presidential hopeful had to say. Excitement and expectancy was in the air; every face was directed to the front of the hall.
Everyone was there to see John Edwards give them a reason to vote for him or reaffirm the support they had already given him. Edwards had launched a three-day, six-state barnstorming tour on Wednesday, and Atlanta was his next-to-last stop before heading back to South Carolina.

The rally began with former Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor giving a brief speech about new direction. Talking up John Edwards' pro-jobs, pro-union platform, Taylor mentioned the tragedy of the two DeKalb County (Atlanta metro area) police officers who had been killed this past week performing security work during their off-duty hours. One of the officer was a war veteran of the Afghanistan campaign, working three jobs to make ends meet.

Taylor introduced former Democratic governor of Georgia Roy Barnes, who told the crowd how tired he was -- of a president who didn't speak for him, of his country being run into the ground, of watching jobs and companies relocating oversees. Barnes received a raucous response to his dig at Bush, that he knew a Republican could ruin the country, but he had no idea that he would ruin the world. And then Barnes told the crowd that the reason he was supporting Edwards was because Edwards was the only Democratic platform that was detailed and unambiguous enough to work.