Kossack from Kentucky Gets Visit from John Edwards (1800 attend in town of 229)

As kossack decider06 said last night on Air America:

Columbus, Kentucky is so rural, it is an hour away from the nearest McDonald's.

In a town of 229, John Edwards drew a crowd of 1800 people. Now, remember this is one of the most rural areas of the country. That is a 800% turnout. While other candidates have boasted their turnouts in cities like Atlanta and New York, you cannot deny the fact that John Edwards is a Democrat that is appealing to rural voters in a way no other Democratic presidential candidate has in a very long time.

Why is John Edwards the most electable? (6/07)


Why John Edwards Is In Columbus, Kentucky

Kentucky isn't one of them early primary states, so it's not easy to figure out what "Bank It On Iowa" Edwards is doing here...

Actually, thank Shawn Dixon of Columbia. When the Edwards campaign used the event organizing site "Eventful.com" to run a contest -- Edwards would go where the people wanted him to go -- Dixon led the charge to bring Edwards to Columbus. In doing so, his efforts beat out Los Angeles and Seattle, among other cities.

So here we are.

Other than thanking the good people of Columbus, Edwards wants the news coverage to emphasize his popularity in this rural hamlet in a Southern state won twice by Bill Clinton. The implied message: "Could Hillary Clinton campaign here?"

That is right, thank our kossack Shawn Dixon who worked hard to get John Edwards to real rural America. He makes his case for rural areas.

Far too often small towns like Columbus are ignored during discussion around presidential or national politics. In turn, the needs of citizens in rural America aren’t considered when it comes time for our elected representatives to make important legislative decisions that affect the lives of urban, suburban and rural folk.

Many times politicians swoop in and out of the largest city of a rural state to pick up checks and pose for the requisite airport meet-and-greet photo, ignoring constituents who live outside of the metro area. Thanks to the internet and developing technologies, you and I have the power to change that like never before—the power to organize and demand that our leaders pay attention to the issues that affect rural Americans everyday.

Rural America deserves a new dialogue and new ideas on how to tackle the problems plaguing our towns and communities—extreme poverty, lack of health care coverage, unemployment, high energy costs and access to technology. For example, the poverty rate in Kentucky is well above the national average and persistent poverty is prevalent all across rural America and the South. Persistent poverty areas are defined as areas that have consistently had a poverty rate of above 20 percent. Eighty-eight percent of those areas are located in rural America and of those 82 percent are in the South.

So why is there such a demand for John Edwards in rural Western Kentucky? Because he is the candidate addressing their issues.

Shawn Dixon on why John Edwards excites rural voters.

I started the "demand" for Columbus because too often rural areas are neglected during presidential campaigns and in the important policy debates happening in our federal legislatures. Though Columbus is only a town of 229 people, we represent the tens of millions of citizens who work, live and raise their families in rural America.

We are thrilled that Senator Edwards is coming to our town and take seriously our responsibility to represent rural Americans everywhere. His visit is most exciting for our community because it presents a real opportunity to engage in a substantive dialogue about the everyday challenges facing rural Americans: extreme poverty, lower access to technology, including broadband internet, the disproportionate effect of high energy prices on rural Americans, lower access to healthcare due to doctors leaving rural areas - just to name some of the most pressing challenges.

Edwards Announces Rural Recovery Act; Plan would restore economic fairness and help struggling towns

Edwards' Rural Recovery Act would:

1. Restore economic fairness to rural America by helping small businesses thrive and grow. Edwards will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund to bring capital and management expertise to small town America.

2. Create a new energy economy in rural America by establishing the New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart renewable energies. Edwards will create new markets for ethanol, invest in renewable energy research, support locally owned biorefineries and require 25 percent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources by 2025.

3. Create fairness for family farmers by supporting strong antitrust enforcement, capping farm subsidies for corporate farms and supporting the packer ban and a national moratorium on new and expanded hog lagoons.

4. Strengthen rural schools by improving pay for teachers in rural and other hard-to-staff schools to help attract quality new and experienced teachers, and by creating digital learning opportunities.

5. Improve health care in rural America by rewriting the unfair Medicare and Medicaid funding formulas that punish rural states and communities, and supporting investments in telemedicine. Additionally, Edwards' plan for universal health care will cover the 9 million rural Americans that lack insurance and establish a nationwide network of safety net clinics and public hospitals.

6. Rid rural America of methamphetamines by investing in the enforcement of drug laws in rural areas, help states make meth ingredients more difficult to get and expand programs that successfully treat addicts.

more

I talked about his plan in a diary months ago as it applies to my home in rural Arkansas and it helped me become a stronger Edwards supporter. John Edwards concentration on rural issues may also help explain why he does so well in state polls against the Republicans like Missouri and Oklahoma.

On a side note, see Shawn Dixon's website:
http://www.ditchmitchky.com/
He is all over the place!