(Concord, NH) – Senator John Edwards will return to the Granite State tomorrow in hopes of one day becoming the President of the United States.  Before that can occur, he will need to decide which John Edwards he would like to be, the populist candidate for office or the multi-millionaire trial lawyer.  Either way, it is the same John Edwards who constantly says one thing and does another.

“John Edwards likes to talk of two Americas, but in reality there is only one America but two John Edwards.  He has a habit of saying one thing and doing another.  I think trust will be a real issue for John Edwards; he has his work cut out for him here in New Hampshire,” said Wayne Semprini, the Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.

After only serving one term as a United States Senator, John Edwards has amassed a record of votes which are contrary to his public statements.  He was for the war in Iraq before he was against it.  He said he was committed to providing the troops with the support they needed, only to vote against a bill which would have provided $87 billion toward their efforts.  John Edwards also voted in favor of “No Child Left Behind” only to criticize the legislation afterward.

“John Edwards like to call himself a moderate but he was ranked the fourth most liberal member of the Senate before running for President.  New Hampshire has a tradition of holding candidates accountable for their actions; from what I can see, John Edwards is going to have a lot to answer for this time around,” concluded Semprini.
 

• 2003 Voting Record Earns Edwards Title Of Fourth Most Liberal Member In Senate. With a composite score of 94.5%, Edwards ranks above Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Boxer (D-CA) in liberal voting scores for 2003. (Richard E. Cohen, “How They Measured Up,” The National Journal, 2/28/04)

• Edwards Voted For “No Child Left Behind,” But Now Attacks It. (HR 1, CQ Vote #371: Agreed To 87-10: R 44-3; D 43-6, I 0-1, 12/18/01, Edwards Voted Yea)

• Edwards Supported Action Against Iraq Regardless Of Any Ties To 9/11. EDWARDS: “But I think, separate and apart from 9/11, we have Saddam Hussein, a man who invaded another country, who started a war in 1991, who lost the war, and has, since that time, flaunted numerous, what, 16, 17 U.N. Security resolutions. He’s got weapons of mass destruction. He’s trying to get nuclear capability. This is a very serious situation, and I think it’s incumbent on us to take the action necessary to rid the world of this threat.” (Fox News’ “The Big Story With John Gibson,” 9/19/02)

• Edwards Voted Against $87 Billion Supplemental For Postwar Iraq. (S. 1689, CQ Vote #400: Passed 87-12: R 50-0; D 37-11; I 0-1, 10/17/03, Edwards Voted Nay)
o One Month Earlier, Edwards Said We Needed To Get Troops “What They Need.” “We have young men and women over there in a dangerous environment. They’re in a shooting gallery, very dangerous situation, and we have to make sure they get what they need. That’s pretty simple.” (CBS’s “Face The Nation,” 9/21/03)