NEW YORK – John Edwards may have squandered the sympathy vote already with his remarks during a 60 Minutes interview with Katie Couric, which was taped Saturday in Las Vegas and aired last night.
Prior to his 60 Minutes appearance, several polls had indicated a shift in the sympathy vote toward Mr. Edwards, a former senator and vice presidential candidate, following his announcement last week that he would remain in the 2008 presidential race despite the fact that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer again, this time an incurable variety.
“Sympathy voters, who really don’t have a candidate in this election, were leaning toward John,” said Clinton Arquette, president of the Sympathy Foundation, a Washington, D.C., think tank. “But his remarks on 60 Minutes could be interpreted as dismissing the sympathy vote.”
Mr. Edwards declared, with perhaps too much vigor for his own cause, that voters should not support him solely because his wife has cancer.
“Do not vote for us because you feel some sympathy or compassion for us,” said Mr. Edwards, who trails Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton by unhealthy margins. “That would be an enormous mistake.”
“His remarks may have been the enormous mistake,” said Mr. Arquette, who has helped a number of candidates, including Mary Bono (R – CA), ride the sympathy vote into office.
“Sympathy voters are sensitive,” continued Mr. Arquette. “It’s OK for a candidate to say he doesn’t want the sympathy vote when he clearly does, especially if he bites his lip and blinks back tears; but if his words or expression betray any discomfort with the sympathy vote, he’s dead.”
A telephone survey following Mr. Edwards’ 60 Minutes appearance indicated that he may have undermined the electoral benefit of his wife’s disease.
“He talked as if sympathy was a four-letter word,” said Mavis Sharpe, a member of Relatives of 9/11 Victims of Long Island. “If he thinks he can get elected without our support, let him try.”
Ms. Sharpe pointed out that sympathy voters would rather sit out an election, “voting with out feet not our hearts,” than vote “just for the sake of voting.”
Other sympathy voters were not so quick to condemn Mr. Edwards.
“Let’s not forget he’s still the only candidate in the race with a spouse who probably won’t live to see the end of his first term if he wins,” said Richard Owens, chairman of the grass roots group Sympathy for the Edwards.
“Compared to that credential, Hillary Clinton’s philandering husband and Barack Obama’s racially conflicted childhood are chicken feathers. The sympathy vote is still Mr. Edwards’ to lose.”
In other news, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and his wife have called a news conference for 10:00 a.m. tomorrow to announce that the Arizona senator will remain in the race despite his wife’s recent hemorrhoid diagnosis.
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