The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

JOHNNIE AND TERRY br> No big surprise that trial lawyer extraordinaire Sen. John Edwards was out front on Thursday bashing President Bush's proposal to cap plaintiff malpractice lawsuit awards. As expected, Edwards's staff was quick to put out the legal eagle's spin on how such caps would harm plaintiff rights and undercut the jury system in civil cases. /p>

What was surprising was that Terry McAuliffe's Democratic National Committee also put Edwards front and center to push the Democratic spin on the Bush announcement. Early Thursday, all White House correspondents received a DNC e-mail announcing that Edwards would be holding a conference call to discuss the Bush plan. Sen. Edward Kennedy was willing to make himself available, but the DNC took a pass on him in favor of the increasingly visible Edwards. In fact, the DNC has been getting pretty cozy with Edwards of late.

"McAuliffe has been hearing nothing but raves about the guy everywhere he goes," says a DNC staffer. "Everyone says Edwards has no name recognition, but you go to Florida, Texas, California, Ohio, he's the Democrat people seem to want to see more of."

It's doubtful McAuliffe is pushing Edwards as a party standard bearer; after all, McAuliffe and his DNC have made a point of avoiding creating the appearance of favoritism when it comes to potential electoral conflicts. For example, while he tried to persuade Janet Reno not to continue what everyone agrees has been a semi-disastrous run for Florida governor, McAuliffe refused the state party's pleas to strong arm her out. He took a similar position in a few of the congressional races where re-districting pitted two incumbent Democrats against each other.

"It's let the best Democrat win, and then get behind the winner," says the DNC-er. "That's his rule."

p>That may be, but McAuliffe is also looking for a horse who can help Democrats win in November and he's not about to waste an opportunity to spin against this White House, even if doing so makes it appear he's giving a leg up to one of the Democratic presidential hopefuls. br> /p>

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