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(separated at birth?)

South Carolina Editorial Blasts Edwards on Image, Campaign Fights Back

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

John Edwards' campaign scoffed Tuesday at a new effort to depict the Democratic presidential candidate as phony after an influential columnist for a newspaper in Edwards' birth state wrote that his personal experiences only reinforce his image of Edwards as plastic.

Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz suggested the editorial is a farce and noted that columnist Brad Warthen of The State newspaper, based in Columbia, S.C., endorsed Joe Lieberman a day before the Connecticut senator dropped out of the Democratic primary race in 2004.

Schultz also pointed out that columnists in other newspapers have opined that Edwards "is shaping the Democratic race by leading with ideas" and a June internal polling memo claims Edwards bests other Democratic candidates in mock general election match-ups.

In his column Tuesday, Warthen wrote about three episodes he had with Edwards during the latter's presidential primary campaign and vice presidential bid alongside John Kerry in 2004. In each, he described Edwards as a man who put on a show for audiences, but showed utter disregard for individuals behind the scenes.

Click here to read The State editorial.