{{Infobox Union | |name= AFL-CIO |country= Canada United States |affiliation= ITUC |members= 11,013,317 (2008) It was formed in 1955 when the AFL and the CIO merged after a long estrangement. From 1955 until 2005, the AFL–CIO's member unions represented nearly all unionized workers in the United States. Several large unions split away from AFL–CIO and formed the rival Change to Win Federation in 2005. The largest union currently in the AFL–CIO is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), with more than a million members.

Membership

The AFL–CIO is a federation of international labor unions. As a voluntary federation, the AFL–CIO has little authority over the affairs of its member unions except in extremely limited cases (such as the ability to expel a member union for corruption (Art. X, Sec. 17) and enforce resolution of disagreements over jurisdiction or organizing). As of June 2008, the AFL–CIO had 56 member unions.

Membership in the AFL–CIO is largely unrestricted. Since its inception as the American Federation of Labor, the AFL–CIO has supported an image of the federation as the "House of Labor"—an all-inclusive, national federation of "all" labor unions. Currently, the AFL–CIO's only explicit restriction on membership excludes those labor unions whose "policies and activities are consistently directed toward the achievement of the program or purposes of authoritarianism, totalitarianism, terrorism and other forces that suppress individual liberties and freedom of association..." (Art. II, Sec. 7). Under Art. II, Sec. 4 and Sec. 8, the AFL–CIO has the authority to place conditions on the issuance of charters, and formally has endorsed the policy of merging small unions into larger ones. In 2001, the AFL–CIO formally established rules regarding the size, financial stability, governance structure, jurisdiction, and leadership stability of unions seeking affiliation. And although the AFL–CIO constitution permits the federation to charter Directly Affiliated Local Unions, the AFL–CIO has largely refused to charter such unions since the 1970s.

A list of current member unions may be found at List of unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

in recent years the AFL–CIO has concentrated its political efforts on lobbying in Washington and the state capitals, and on "GOTV" (get-out-the-vote) campaigns and in major elections. For example, in the 2010 midterm elections, it is sending 28.6 million pieces of mail. Members will receive a "slate card" with a list of union endorsements matched to the member's Congressional district, along with a "personalized" letter from President Trumka emphasizing the importance of voting. In addition, 100,000 volunteers will be going door to door to promote endorsed candidates to 13 million union voters in 32 states .

Governance

The AFL–CIO is governed by its members, who meet in a quadrennial convention. Each member union elects delegates, based on proportional representation. The AFL–CIO's state federations, central and local labor councils, constitutional departments, and constituent groups are also entitled to delegates. The delegates elect officers and vice presidents, debate and approve policy, and set dues.

Executive council

The AFL–CIO has three executive officers: president, secretary-treasurer and executive vice president. The executive vice president is the most recently established office; it was created by constitutional amendment in 1995. Each officer's term is four years, and elections occur at the quadrennial convention.

Current officers are:

President: Richard Trumka (2009- )

Secretary-Treasurer: Liz Shuler (2009- )

Executive Vice-President: Arlene Holt Baker (2009- )

The AFL–CIO membership also elects 43 vice presidents at each convention, who have a term of four years. Election is by plurality, with the top 43 candidates with the highest votes winning office. Article VI, Sec. 5, of the AFL–CIO constitution permits the president of the federation to appoint up to three additional vice presidents during the period when the convention is not in session, in order to increase the racial, gender, ethnic and sexual diversity of the executive council.

The three officers and the vice presidents form the executive council, which is the federation's governing body between quadrennial conventions. It is required to meet twice a year, and in practice meets four or five times a year. It passes resolutions, directly oversees AFL–CIO's legislative program, and has other duties. In 2005, the AFL–CIO constitution was changed to permit the executive council to form "Industrial Coordinating Committees" based on geography, employer, occupation or other appropriate subdivisions to coordinate the organizing and collective bargaining work of the member unions.

Executive committee

An executive committee was authorized by constitutional change in 2005. The executive committee is composed of the president, vice presidents from the 10 largest affiliates, and nine other vice presidents chosen in consultation with the executive council. The other two officers are non-voting ex officio members. The executive committee governs the AFL–CIO between meetings of the executive council, approves its budget, and issues charters (two duties formerly discharged by the executive council). It is required to meet at least four times a year, and in practice meets on an as-needed basis (which may mean once a month or more).

General Board

The AFL–CIO also has a General Board. Its members are the AFL–CIO executive council, the chief executive officer of each member union, the president of each AFL–CIO constitutional department, and four regional representatives elected by the AFL–CIO's state federations. The General Board's duties are very limited. It only takes up matters referred to it by the executive council, but referrals are rare. However, because of the sensitive nature of political endorsements and the advisability of consensus when making them, the General Board traditionally is the body that provides the AFL–CIO's endorsement of candidates for president and vice president of the United States.

State and local bodies

Article XIV of the AFL–CIO constitution permits the AFL–CIO to charter and organize state, regional, local and city-wide bodies. They are commonly called "state federations" and "central labor councils" (CLCs), although the names of the various bodies varies widely at the local and regional level. Each body has its own charter, which establishes its jurisdiction, governance structure, mission, and more. Jurisdiction tends to be geo-political: Each state or territory has its own "state federation." In large cities, there is usually a CLC covering the city. Outside large cities, CLCs tend to be regional (to achieve an economy of scale in terms of dues, administrative effectiveness, etc.). State federations and CLCs are each entitled to representation and voting rights at the quadrennial convention.

The duties of state federations differ from those of CLCs. State federations tend to focus on state legislative lobbying, statewide economic policy, state elections, and other issues of a more over-arching nature. CLCs tend to focus on county or city lobbying, city or county elections, county or city zoning and other economic issues, and more local needs.

Both state federations and CLCs work to mobilize members around organizing campaigns, collective bargaining campaigns, electoral politics, lobbying (most often rallies and demonstrations), strikes, picketing, boycotts, and similar needs.

Although the AFL–CIO constitution requires that all state and local unions affiliate with the appropriate state and local AFL–CIO body, in practice this is not enforced. Many unions do not affiliate with their state federation or CLC, or affiliate only a portion of their membership, leaving state feds and CLCs chronically short of funds.

Interestingly, the AFL–CIO constitution permits international unions to pay state fed and CLC dues directly, rather than have each local or state fed pay them. This relieves each union's state and local affiliates of the administrative duty of assessing, collecting and paying the dues. International unions assess the AFL–CIO dues themselves, and collect them on top of their own dues-generating mechanisms or simply pay them out of the dues the international collects. But not all international unions pay their required state fed and CLC dues.

State federations and CLCs are historically important to the AFL and its successor, the AFL–CIO. George Meany, for example, had little experience as a union member or local union leader, but rose quickly to the top of the AFL–CIO due to his effectiveness as president of the New York State AFL. During the AFL's early history, when the federation remained as apolitical as possible, state feds were the legislative dynamos—lobbying for workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, child labor laws and the minimum wage. But in the 1970s and 1980s, state feds and CLCs became organizational backwaters. They were revitalized beginning in 1995, when John Sweeney campaigned heavily for their votes in his successful quest to unseat AFL–CIO interim president Thomas R. Donahue. Sweeney continued to emphasize them throughout his presidency.

Constitutional departments

Throughout its history, the AFL–CIO had a number of constitutionally mandated departments. They are governed by Article XII of the constitution. Initially, the rationale for having them was that affiliates felt that such decisions should not be left to the whims (or political needs) of the president of the federation.

Currently, Art. XII establishes seven departments, but allows the executive council or convention of the AFL–CIO to establish others. Each department is largely autonomous, but its must conform to the AFL–CIO's constitution and policies. Each department has its own constitution, membership, officers, governance structure, dues and organizational structure. Departments may establish state and local bodies. Any member union of the AFL–CIO may join a department, provided it formally affiliates and pays dues. The chief executive officer of each department may sit in on the meetings of the AFL–CIO executive council. Departments have representation and voting rights at the AFl-CIO convention.

One of the most famous departments was the Industrial Union Department (IUD). It had been constitutionally mandated by the new AFL–CIO constitution created by the merger of the AFL and CIO in 1955, as CIO unions felt that the AFL's commitment to industrial unionism was not strong enough to permit the department to survive without a constitutional mandate. For many years, the IUD was a de facto organizing department in the AFL–CIO. For example, it provided money to the near-destitute American Federation of Teachers (AFT) as it attempted to organize the United Federation of Teachers in 1961. The organizing money enabled the AFT to win the election and establish its first large collective bargaining affiliate. For many years, the IUD remained rather militant on a number of issues. It proved to be a center of opposition to AFL–CIO president John Sweeney, and was abolished in 1999.

As of January 2007, there are six AFL–CIO constitutionally mandated departments:

Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL–CIO

Maritime Trades Department, AFL–CIO

Metal Trades Department, AFL–CIO

Department for Professional Employees, AFL–CIO

Transportation Trades Department, AFL–CIO

Union Label Department, AFL–CIO

Constituency groups

"Constituency groups" are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations chartered and funded by the AFL–CIO to enhance the representational effectiveness of various under-represented groups. Usually they serve as a means to enhance the organizing of new members and as voter registration and mobilization bodies. The four more mature constituency groups are A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Alliance for Retired Americans, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and Coalition of Labor Union Women. They conduct research, host training and educational conferences, issue research reports and publications, lobby for legislation and build coalitions with local groups.

Although constituency groups are not explicitly mentioned in the AFL–CIO constitution, the AFL–CIO exercises its general authority under Article XII to establish them in much the same way that it establishes other departments. Each constituency group has its own charter, officers, governance structure, etc., as constitutionally mandated departments do. They also have the right to sit in on AFL–CIO executive council meetings, and have representational and voting rights at AFL–CIO conventions. Many constituency groups are not self-sustaining and receive significant funding from the AFL–CIO.

As of January 2007, there are seven constituency groups within the AFL–CIO:

A. Philip Randolph Institute

Alliance for Retired Americans

Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists

Coalition of Labor Union Women

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Pride at Work

Allied organizations

"Allied organizations" are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations chartered and funded by the AFL–CIO to serve certain policy goals of the federation. They have evolved in a number of ways. For example, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity started out as the Free Trade Union Committee (FTUC), an "independent" organization funded and controlled by the AFL to promote anti-communist labor unions overseas. However, the Working for America Institute started out as a nonconstitutional department of the AFL–CIO. Established in 1958, it was previously known as the Human Resources Development Institute (HRDI). President Sweeney renamed the department and spun it off as an "independent" organization in 1998 to act as a lobbing group to promote economic development, develop new economic polices, and lobby Congress on economic policy.

Although allied organizations are not explicitly mentioned in the AFL–CIO constitution, the AFL–CIO exercises its general authority under Article XII to establish them in much the same way that it establishes other departments. Each allied organization has its own charter, officers, governance structure, etc., as constitutionally mandated departments do. However, they do not have the right to sit in on AFL–CIO executive council meetings, and do not have representational or voting rights at AFL–CIO conventions. The current three allied organization are all self-sustaining. Their boards are interlocking with the AFL–CIO executive council.

As of January 2007, there are three allied organizations:

American Center for International Labor Solidarity

International Labor Communications Association

Working for America Institute

Allied groups

"Allied groups" are organizations that have more informal relationships to the AFL–CIO. Some, like the Labor and Working-Class History Association, are truly independent organizations that wish to work very closely with the AFL–CIO and promote its mission and goals. Others, like American Rights at Work, are independent in name only; they are nonprofit, nonpartisan organizations with their own articles of incorporation, charter, governance structure, etc., but are funded largely by the AFL–CIO, and their boards are dominated by its directors. Others are plainly programs of the AFL–CIO operated as federation-wide, cross-cutting organizations serving AFL–CIO goals (such as disaster relief or member mobilization apart from legislative or organizing work). These programs have little or no staff (often using staff already employed by the AFL–CIO), and little or no need for funding (or using funds provided on an as-needed basis through existing AFL–CIO budgets).

As of January 2007, there are four allied groups:

American Rights at Work

Community Services Network

Labor and Working-Class History Association

Working America

Programs

"Programs" are organizations established and controlled by the AFL–CIO to serve certain organizational goals. Because of legal requirements (such as federal and state securities laws), they are truly independent organizations. But their governance structures are either dominated by or have sizable blocks of AFL–CIO directors, which effectively direct them to implement policies favored by the AFL–CIO.

Programs serve a variety of goals. For example, the AFL–CIO Building Trust enables union pension and health funds to invest in the for-profit Building Investment Trust. The Trust then uses this capital to construct office buildings, hotels, housing developments, and other capital construction. Some profits are kept by the Trust to build its investment capabilities, the rest are distributed to the investors. Other programs serve goals such as the banking needs of individual union members (AFL–CIO Credit Union) or to provide credit card and other consumer services (Union Privilege).

As of January 2007, there were five programs of the AFL–CIO:

AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust

AFL-CIO Employees Federal Credit Union

AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust

National Labor College

Union Privilege

International policy

The AFL–CIO is affiliated to the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation, formed November 1, 2006, and incorporating the member organizations of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, of which the AFL–CIO had long been part. The ITUC is the most representative international labor grouping.

History

For the history of the AFL-CIO prior to and including the merger see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and Labor unions in the United States.

In 2003, the AFL–CIO began an intense internal debate over the future of the labor movement in the United States with the creation of the New Unity Partnership (NUP), a loose coalition of some of the AFL–CIO's largest unions. This debate intensified in 2004, after the defeat of labor-backed candidate John Kerry in the November 2004 U.S. presidential election. The NUP's program for reform of the federation included reduction of the central bureaucracy, more money spent on organizing new members rather than on electoral politics, and a restructuring of unions and locals, eliminating some smaller locals and focusing more along the lines of industrial unionism.

In 2005, the NUP dissolved and the Change to Win Federation (CtW) formed, threatening to secede from the AFL–CIO if its demands for major reorganization were not met. As the AFL–CIO prepared for its 50th anniversary convention in late July, three of the federations' four largest unions announced their withdrawal from the federation: the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters ("The Teamsters"), and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). UNITE HERE disaffiliated in mid-September 2005, the United Farm Workers left in January 2006, and the Laborers' International Union of North America disaffiliated on June 1, 2006.

In addition to the issues listed above, the dispute was seen as deeply personal. SEIU President Andy Stern, the most outspoken leader of the Change to Win coalition, was once considered the protege of former SEIU President and AFL–CIO President John Sweeney.

Two unions later left CtW and rejoined the AFL–CIO. After a bitter internal leadership dispute that involved allegations of embezzlement and accusations that SEIU was attempting to raid the union, a substantial number of UNITE HERE members formed their own union (Workers United) while the remainder of UNITE HERE reaffiliated with the AFL–CIO on September 17, 2009. The Laborers' International Union of North America said on August 13, 2010, that it would also leave Change to Win and rejoin the AFL–CIO in October 2010.

Presidents

George Meany (1955–1979)

Lane Kirkland (1979–1995)

Thomas R. Donahue (1995)

John J. Sweeney (1995–2009)

Richard Trumka (2009- )

See also

List of unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO

Labor unions in the United States

Labor movement

List of U.S. trade unions

Directly Affiliated Local Union (DALU)

Change to Win Federation

Labor federation competition in the U.S.

Union Organizer

Notes

References

Amber, Michelle. "SEIU Agrees to Pay Nearly $4 Million to Settle Dispute With AFL-CIO Over Dues." Daily Labor Report. March 2, 2006.

Constitution of the AFL-CIO, as amended at the Twenty-Fifth Constitutional Convention, July 25-28, 2005. Accessed January 15, 2007.

Gilroy, Tom. "Labor to Stress Get-Out-the-Vote Among Members in Fall Elections." Labor Relations Week. October 21, 1998.

Greenhouse, Steven. "For Chairwoman of Breakaway Labor Coalition, Deep Roots in the Movement." New York Times. October 10, 2005.

External links

AFL-CIO official website

One Hat for Labor? by David Moberg, The Nation, April 29, 2009

Category:National federations of trade unions Category:Organizations established in 1886 Category:Organizations established in 1955 Category:527 groups

Name	Richard Trumka
Birth date	July 24, 1949
Birth place	Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Known for	President, United Mine Workers of America; Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO; President, AFL-CIO
Occupation	Miner; Labor leader; Attorney/Litigator
Nationality	American

Richard Louis Trumka (born July 24, 1949) He went to work in the mines in 1968. He received a bachelor of science degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1971 and a law degree from Villanova University in 1974. He was elected to the board of directors of UMWA District 4 in 1981 and became President of the United Mine Workers in 1982.

While President of the UMWA, Trumka led a successful nine-month strike against the Pittston Coal Company in 1989, which became a symbol of resistance against employer cutbacks and retrenchment for the entire labor movement. The Associated Press reported that he was not threatening violence, and noted that UMWA staff had spent "thousands of man hours trying to prevent anything from happening ... to our members or by our members."

References

External links

AFL-CIO

United Mine Workers of America

Richard Trumka speech attacking racism in the 2008 presidential election

AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council

The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award

Trumka quote

Category:1949 births Category:AFL–CIO people Category:American labor leaders Category:American lawyers Category:Living people Category:Penn State University alumni Category:Pennsylvania political activists Category:People from Pennsylvania Category:American politicians of Polish descent Category:American people of Polish descent Category:United Mine Workers of America Category:Villanova University alumni

Nationality	United States
Image name	John Edwards, official Senate photo portrait.jpg
Imagesize	200px
Jr/sr	United States Senator
Alongside
State	North Carolina
Party	Democratic
Term start	January 3, 1999
Term end	January 3, 2005
Preceded	Lauch Faircloth
Succeeded	Richard Burr
Birth date	June 10, 1953
Birth place	Seneca, South Carolina
Birthname	Johnny Reid Edwards
Profession	Attorney Politician
Spouse	Elizabeth Edwards (1977–2010; her death)
Children	Wade (1979–1996)Cate (born 1982)Emma Claire (born 1998)Jack (born 2000)Frances Quinn Hunter (born 2008)
Alma mater	North Carolina State UniversityUniversity of North Carolina School of Law
Religion	United Methodist
Signature	JRE Signature.svg

Johnny Reid "John" Edwards ABC News reports that Young stated that Edwards asked him to "Get a doctor to fake the DNA results...and to steal a diaper from the baby so he could secretly do a DNA test to find out if this [was] indeed his child."

In 1985, Edwards represented a five-year-old child born with cerebral palsy – a child whose mother's doctor did not choose to perform an immediate Caesarean delivery when a fetal monitor showed she was in distress. Edwards won a $6.5 million verdict for his client, but five weeks later, the presiding judge sustained the verdict, but overturned the award on grounds that it was "excessive" and that it appeared "to have been given under the influence of passion and prejudice," adding that in his opinion "the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict." He offered the plaintiffs $3.25 million, half of the jury's award, but the child's family appealed the case and received $4.25 million in a settlement. Winning this case established the North Carolina precedent of physician and hospital liability for failing to determine if the patient understood the risks of a particular procedure.

After this trial, Edwards gained national attention as a plaintiff's lawyer. He filed at least twenty similar lawsuits in the years following and achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million for his clients. Similar lawsuits followed across the country. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide, perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits, Edwards said, "The question is, would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don't intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?"

In 1993, Edwards began his own firm in Raleigh (now named Kirby & Holt) with a friend, David Kirby. He became known as the top plaintiffs' attorney in North Carolina. The biggest case of his legal career was a 1996 product liability lawsuit against Sta-Rite, the manufacturer of a defective pool drain cover. The case involved Valerie Lakey, a five-year-old girl The family said that they hired Edwards over other attorneys because he alone had offered to accept a smaller percentage as fee unless the award was unexpectedly high, while all of the other lawyers they spoke with said they required the full one-third fee. The size of the jury award was unprecedented, and Edwards did receive the standard one-third-plus-expenses fee typical of contingency cases. The family was so impressed with his intelligence and commitment that they volunteered for his Senate campaign the next year.

After Edwards won a large verdict against a trucking company whose worker had been involved in a fatal accident, the North Carolina legislature passed a law prohibiting such awards unless the company had specifically sanctioned the employee's actions.

In December 2003, during his first presidential campaign, Edwards (with John Auchard) published Four Trials, a biographical book focusing on cases from his legal career. According to this book, the success of the Sta-Rite case and his son's death (Edwards had hoped his son would eventually join him in private law practice) prompted Edwards to leave the legal profession and seek public office.

Political career

Policy positions

Edwards promotes programs to eliminate poverty in the United States, including arguing in favor of creating one million housing vouchers over five years in order to place poor people in middle-class neighborhoods. Edwards has stated, "If we truly believe that we are all equal, then we should live together too." is opposed to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage; In August 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that a portion of the Edwards family's assets were invested in Fortress Investment Group, which had, in turn, invested a portion of its assets in subprime mortgage lenders, some of which had foreclosed on the homes of Hurricane Katrina victims. Upon learning of Fortress' investments, Edwards divested funds and stated that he would try to help the affected families. Edwards later helped set up an ACORN-administered "Louisiana Home Rescue Fund" seeded with $100,000, much of it from his pocket, to provide loans and grants to the families who were foreclosed on by Fortress-owned lenders.

Political campaigns

Electoral history

North Carolina United States Senate election, 1998 (Democratic primary)

John Edwards – 277,468 (51.39%)

D.G. Martin – 149,049 (27.59%)

Ella Butler Scarborough – 55,486 (10.28%)

North Carolina United States Senate election, 1998

John Edwards (D) – 1,029,237 (51.15%)

Lauch Faircloth (R) (inc.) – 945,943 (47.01%)

Barbara Howe (Lib.) – 36,963 (1.84%)

2004 Democratic presidential primaries

John Kerry – 9,930,497 (60.98%)

John Edwards – 3,162,337 (19.42%)

Howard Dean – 903,460 (5.55%)

Dennis Kucinich – 620,242 (3.81%)

Wesley Clark – 547,369 (3.36%)

Al Sharpton – 380,865 (2.34%)

Joe Lieberman – 280,940 (1.73%)

United States presidential election, 2004

George W. Bush/Dick Cheney (R) (inc.) – 62,040,610 (50.7%) and 286 electoral votes (31 states carried)

John Kerry/John Edwards (D) – 59,028,111 (48.3%) and 251 electoral votes (19 states and D.C. carried)

John Ewards [sic] (D) – 1 electoral vote (faithless elector)

2008 Democratic presidential primaries

Barack Obama – 17,869,542 (48.2%)

Hillary Clinton – 17,717,698 (47.8%)

John Edwards – 1,006,289 (2.65%)

2004 presidential campaign

In 2000, Edwards unofficially began his presidential campaign when he began to seek speaking engagements in Iowa, the site of the nation's first party caucuses. On January 2, 2003, Edwards began fundraising without officially campaigning by forming an exploratory committee. On September 15, 2003, Edwards fulfilled a promise he made a year earlier as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to unofficially announce his intention to seek the 2004 Democratic Presidential nomination. The next morning, Edwards made the announcement officially from his hometown. He declined to run for reelection to the Senate in order to focus on his presidential run. Edwards' campaign was chaired by North Carolina Democratic activist Ed Turlington.

As Edwards had been building support essentially since his election to the Senate, he led the initial campaign fundraising, amassing over $7 million during the first quarter of 2003 – more than half of which came from individuals associated with the legal profession, particularly Edwards' fellow trial lawyers, their families, and employees.

Edwards' "stump speech" spoke of two Americas, with one composed of the wealthy and privileged, and the other of the hard-working common man, causing the media to often characterize Edwards as a populist.

Edwards struggled to gain substantial support, but his poll numbers began to rise steadily weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Edwards had a surprising second-place finish with the support of 32% of delegates, behind only John Kerry's 39% and ahead of former front-runner Howard Dean at 18%. One week later in the New Hampshire primary, Edwards finished in fourth place behind Kerry, Dean and Wesley Clark, with 12%. During the February 3 primaries, Edwards won the South Carolina primary, lost to Clark in Oklahoma, and lost to Kerry in the other states. Edwards garnered the second largest number of second-place finishes, again falling behind Clark.

Dean withdrew from the contest, leaving Edwards the only major challenger to Kerry. In the Wisconsin primary on February 17, Edwards finished second to Kerry with 34% of the vote.

Edwards largely avoided attacking Kerry until a February 29, 2004, debate in New York, where he characterized him as a "Washington insider" and mocked Kerry's plan to form a committee to examine trade agreements.

In the Super Tuesday primaries on March 2, Kerry finished well ahead in nine of the ten states voting, and Edwards' campaign ended. In Georgia, Edwards finished only slightly behind Kerry but, failing to win a single state, chose to withdraw from the race. He announced his official withdrawal at a Raleigh, North Carolina press conference on March 3. Edwards' withdrawal made major media outlets relatively early on the evening of Super Tuesday, at about 6:30 p.m. CST, before polls had closed in California and before caucuses in Minnesota had even begun. It is thought that the withdrawal influenced many people in Minnesota to vote for other candidates, which may partially account for the strong Minnesota finish of Dennis Kucinich. Edwards did win the presidential straw poll conducted by the Independence Party of Minnesota.

After withdrawing from the race, he went on to win the April 17 Democratic caucuses in his home state of North Carolina, making him the only Democratic candidate besides Kerry to win nominating contests in two states.

2004 vice presidential nomination

On July 6, 2004, Kerry announced that Edwards would be his running mate; the decision was widely hailed in public opinion polls and by Democratic leaders. Though many Democrats supported Edwards' nomination, others criticized the selection for Edwards' perceived lack of experience. In the vice-presidential debate, Dick Cheney told Edwards they had never met because of Edwards' frequent absences from the Senate, but videotape later surfaced of Cheney and Edwards shaking hands at an official event.

Kerry's campaign advisor Bob Shrum later reported in Time magazine that Kerry said he wished he'd never picked Edwards, and the two have since stopped speaking to each other. Edwards said in his concession speech, "You can be disappointed, but you cannot walk away. This fight has just begun."

2008 presidential campaign

on Labor Day in 2007]] On December 28, 2006, John Edwards officially announced his candidacy for President in the 2008 election from the yard of a home in New Orleans, Louisiana, that was being rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina destroyed it. Edwards stated that his main goals were eliminating poverty, fighting global warming, providing universal health care, and withdrawing troops from Iraq.

National polls had Edwards placing third among the Democratic field beginning in January 2007, behind Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama. By July 2007, the Edwards campaign had raised $23 million from nearly 100,000 donors, placing him behind Obama and Clinton in fundraising.

Edwards was first to boycott a Fox News-sponsored presidential debate in March 2007. Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Barack Obama followed suit.

, Jackson Browne, and Peter Coyote at a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire ]]

On January 3, 2008, in the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of the nomination process, Edwards placed second with 29.75 percent of the vote to Obama (37.58 percent), with Clinton coming in third with 29.47 percent of the vote. On January 8, Edwards placed a distant third in the New Hampshire Democratic primary with just under 17% (48,818 votes). On January 26, Edwards again placed third in the primary in South Carolina – his birth state – which he had carried in 2004, and he placed third in the non-binding January 29 vote in Florida.

in New Orleans, Edwards announced his withdrawal from the 2008 United States presidential race.]] On January 30, 2008, following his primary and caucus losses, Edwards announced that he was suspending his campaign for the Presidency. He did not initially endorse either Clinton or Obama, saying they both had pledged to carry forward his central campaign theme of ending poverty in America. In April 2008, he stated that he would not accept the 2008 Vice Presidential slot if asked. On May 14, 2008, Edwards officially endorsed Senator Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

On June 15, 2008, Edwards stepped back from his initial outright denial of interest in the position of the Vice President, saying, ”I’d take anything he asks me to think about seriously, but obviously this is something that I’ve done and it’s not a job I’m seeking." On June 20, 2008, The Associated Press reported that according to a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the names of Edwards and Sam Nunn were on Obama's vice presidential shortlist. Ultimately, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was tapped to become Obama's running mate.

Bibliography

Four Trials (with John Auchard) (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003) ISBN 0743244974

Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives (New York: Collins, 2006) ISBN 0060884541

Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream, co-editor (New Press, 2007) ISBN 1595581766

See also

Two Americas

United States presidential election, 2008

Official and Potential 2008 United States presidential election Democratic candidates

Opinion polling for the Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

Democratic presidential debates, 2008

References

External links

John Edwards for President official campaign website

John Edwards '08 Blog official campaign blog

Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity

Notable cases via FindLaw

Men's Vogue profile of John Edwards

Notable Names Database profile

John Edwards eNews Reference

USAElectionPolls poll results

;Record

John Edwards's presidential campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission

John Edwards's Congresspedia profile

;Speeches and statements

July 27, 2004, Democratic National Convention speech: Transcript text

October 5, 2004, Vice Presidential Debate: Transcript text, Audio and Video

January 18, 2008, Presidential campaign speech in Los Angeles, California, video

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