Nicole RobinsonWhen Cate Edwards entered The Cabin in Davies Center on Thursday, she fit right in.
The 22-year-old Princeton University graduate stood in jeans, a simple peasant top and sandals that revealed slightly worn toenail polish before a crowd of about 150 students, faculty and community members.
The only things that made her stand out were her distinctly southern accent, and the fact that she is the eldest daughter of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
“I urge you to vote for my dad and John Kerry because they have a plan to change the direction of the country,” Edwards said.
Edwards arrived about 30 minutes late to the event. She jumped in and shared her experiences with her father and his beliefs on many policy issues with the crowd. She tossed in jabs at the current administration throughout her speech.
“Your vote does count. And this time your vote will be counted, which is nice,” she said with a chuckle.
On Sept. 13, the Associated Press reported a Sept. 9 CNN poll, which had the Bush-Cheney ticket leading in Wisconsin. The poll reports President Bush and Vice President Cheney leading with 52 percent of voters supporting the ticket. Kerry and Edwards are backed by 44 percent of voters in the state, according to the poll.
In an interview after her speech, Edwards said she joined the campaign after her father was named Kerry’s running mate. Coincidentally, it was just one day after she moved to New York City for a new job.
“I haven’t been back much since,” she said. “But I just decided, what an incredible opportunity to really change this country.”
After speaking to the crowd for about five minutes, Edwards opted to give the rest of her time at UW-Eau Claire to fielding questions from the audience. She answered questions on everything from the war in Iraq to the No Child Left Behind Act.
Senior Brandon Buchanan asked Edwards what her father and presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., thought of the Patriot Act II.
“I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know all the details of the Patriot Act,” Edwards told Buchanan.
Edwards gave the same admittance to many audience members with policy questions. She referred difficult questions to a Kerry-Edwards representative.
“It really helps, even if I don’t have answers to questions for me to hear the questions,” she said after her speech.
“The truth about it is, it’s so much easier though, especially when you’re coming out to something like this to learn and understand these issues because you’re seeing the way that they’re affecting these peoples’ everyday lives,” she said.
She went on to share what she knew about the Patriot Act I and II, as well as what the Kerry-Edwards ticket believes about the acts.
“John Kerry, like my dad, does believe that there are problems with the Patriot Act, but that there are parts that he is OK with,” she said. “About 95 percent will be expanded (under Kerry) to give us more reach to find and prosecute terrorists. But at the same time there are problems (with other areas).”
Buchanan said he thought Edwards’ stop in Eau Claire would be beneficial to the Democrats campaign in Wisconsin because it would give added name recognition.
However he said he was slightly disappointed with Edwards’ answers to questions.
“I felt like Cate Edwards didn’t have the deepest grasp of the issues,” he said. “But she did have a strong general grasp.”
Buchanan, who said he opposes the Patriot Acts, also was disappointed to hear that the Kerry-Edwards ticket is proposing expansion of the acts.
Edwards said she tried to convey one primary message – to simply vote.
“One of the most important things to me is to get young people involved. I’ve been an apathetic college student,” she said. “For those students who think my vote doesn’t count … remember that 537 votes decided the 2000 election, and it probably will be even closer this time around, especiall
