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Politics

Edwards stays on message: breast cancer, not politics

A presidential candidate's wife speaks at a local event.

By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 5, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, signed more than 100 of her books at a Hilton Hotel in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG - The presidential campaign trail can be a confusing place these days, especially after Democratic candidates promised not to stump for Florida votes during this primary season.

So when Elizabeth Edwards, one of the most prominent players in the campaign so far, spoke at a Thursday luncheon in St. Petersburg about breast cancer, it provided local voters a rare peek at the spouse of one prominent Democratic candidate, John Edwards.

Yet while the event was open to the public for $100 a pop, media was prohibited. And politics? Don't even mention it.

It was a curious taboo for a breast cancer "awareness" event and it underscored the uncharted territory that Mrs. Edwards is forging this year as a spouse for a presidential candidate.

How does she continue to speak on a subject of such personal importance, that has raised her profile higher than most other spouses - and some candidates - without appearing to exploit her own fight with incurable cancer?

"It may be that she only wants to talk about breast cancer," said Martha Joynt Kumar, author of Managing the President's Message: The White House Communications Operation. "But she's part of the campaign. At this juncture, it's impossible during such an active campaign to separate herself from what her husband does."

Even though her husband was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president four years ago, he has been overshadowed by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Edwards is running strong in Iowa, and many say his wife is one of his secret weapons, impervious to attack because of a sympathetic backstory.

After she announced on March 22 that she had a recurrence in the breast cancer she first discovered in 2004, media coverage of her exploded. According to Nexis - a database of newspapers, magazines and radio and TV transcripts - Edwards was mentioned heavily in 2,700 articles in the six months following her prognosis. That was five times her media play during the same time period before the announcement.

Thursday's event was a dream stage for a campaign manager. An adoring audience greeted her as she signed more than a hundred books. She then gave a short speech about the importance of connecting with others in her fight with cancer. Edwards was paid $25,000 to appear.

A St. Petersburg Times reporter attended after paying the $100 cover that paid for a chicken caesar salad lunch.

"My heart is so warm right now," said a teary-eyed Rose Ellen Lucarell after her copy of Edwards' book, Saving Graces, was signed. "She reminds me of my mother like no one else I know. She died 22 years ago of breast cancer, and Elizabeth is as courageous and gracious as she was."

Edwards spoke about the loneliness she has felt waking up in the middle of the night with aching bones, and scrubbing her head not with shampoo, but with soap.

"We can't avoid our mortality," Edwards said. "That journey is frightening when taken alone."

Yet aside from the 290 admirers in the ballroom of the St. Petersburg Carillon Hilton Hotel, this event wouldn't reach a larger audience.

"Two or three weeks ago we were notified that Mrs. Edwards wanted to close the event to the press," said Robert Sherman, executive director of the St. Anthony's Health Care Foundation, which sponsored the luncheon to raise money for a new breast cancer center. "We signed a contract where she reserved that right. I'm in a Catch-22 here. I have to respect the contract."

Edwards declined an interview and did much to avoid talk of politics.

When she joked about how a friend regretted that her hair loss made her look like Vice President Dick Cheney (a line which drew laughs), Edwards was quick to say she didn't mean anything by it.

"Not a political statement," she said.

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan and staff writer Bill Adair contributed to this report. Michael Van Sickler can be reached at (813) 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 5, 2007, 06:30:35]