The Politico is reporting that Elizabeth Edwards is leading a $40M campaign called Healthcare for America Now on July 8th at the National Press Club.  

Healthcare for America Now will unveil a $40 million effort, with the first ad buy being a $1.5 million in national print, online and broadcast advertising.

The group's goal is to provide "quality, affordable health care for every American," and it obviously dovetails with the Obama campaign's promise of providing universal health care. The group will spend $25 million in paid media, while also funding 100 organizers involved in events around the country.

More after the jump...

Last week I received a "Thinking of You" card from my 76 year young mother. It's one of those cards that she bought in bulk, probably at a Dollar store, but she keeps them around as she gets older because her friends are having health problems and spending more time in hospitals or being confined to their homes. Receiving a caring note through the US mail is nice for anyone, especially since we either see only bills or advertisements, and her friends do appreciate them. I appreciated it too, but for a different reason. Why is this card so special to me? Follow me after the jump.

Recently, I e-mailed an old buddy who lives in Texas with a good Dubya joke. For those who are interested in the joke, you can read it at my blog, Benny's World. He responded with pleasantries and asked me how things were going for my POTUS candidate, John Edwards. I replied that John Edwards' poll numbers from CNN(courtesy of Wade Norris) today looked pretty promising in head to head matchups with the Republicans. I also mentioned that there was a three way race in Iowa and it was too close as well in NH to know who would win, but Edwards' chances looked very good. He said he liked the little guys, meaning Biden, Richardson, and Dodd (the non-front runners), but of the front runners, he was considering Edwards. Follow me after the jump..

I just got through watching C-SPAN's Road to the White House 2008 Event in which John Edwards was doing an outdoor town hall in Keene, NH.

Most of the questions were the same questions about getting out of Iraq (40-50K troop withdrawl now, and no more combat missions), education (college for everyone, pre-kindergarten, NCLB is a mess as kids don't learn completely from testing all of the time, teachers should have more say), global warming (he's against building new nuclear power plants).   I'm familiar with many of his policies.   But what got my attention was a woman who wanted to know the reality of cable news and national news reports that the primary election as well as the general election had been decided.

It was very telling as the voter was getting at the problems with the media and other big money behind it, which was the theme of Edwards' One Democracy initiative today.  Edwards asked the crowd: is the election decided here in NH already?   NO, the crowd yelled.  Then Edwards said he knew the voters had not made up their minds in NH, and the same in Iowa, and that "television yappers are nonsense".  Let's look at Edwards' One Democracy ideas.

Last night, I saw a terrific interview of Bruce Springsteen on 60 Minutes.  Scott Pelley, who happens to be from my hometown of Lubbock, TX, asked Springsteen about his "anti-war" CD and about his musical evolution.   His responses remind me of what I've been hearing from JRE for the last 2 years.  The Showbiz blog from CBS aptly entitled the interview: Silence is Unpatriotic.

Another report about field activities from a volunteer's eyes in IL-15. This is about obtaining signatures for petitions to put candidates on the state ballot.

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This morning I went to our local Farmer's Market to work at the Democratic Party booth. I had our local volunteer coordinator pencil me in last month, and I'm very glad I went. I only regret that I wish I had brought a camera in which the battery needed to be recharged, so I have no pictures to offer.

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Kos reported less than an hour ago John Edwards is not agreeing to be in the debate sponsored by Fox News.  Here's what Kos penned:

As I mentioned earlier today, I've been asking campaigns whether they plan on attending the Fox News debate.

Several of the campaigns I contacted are still trying to make a final determination, but the first to definitely say "no" is John Edwards. Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince emailed me the great news:

We will not be participating in the Fox debate. We're going to make lots of appearances in Nevada, including debates. By the end of March, we will have attended three presidential forums in Nevada - and there are already at least three proposed Nevada debates. We're definitely going to debate in Nevada, but we don't see why this needs to be one of them.

Great job by the Edwards campaign on this, showing real leadership on this issue. Hopefully others will soon follow.

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