Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was in Johnston, Iowa, this morning to tape "Iowa Press" which will be shown on IPTV tonight at 7:30. During the program, Edwards made the following declaration: "We need a president of the United States who can walk and chew chewing gum at the same time."
After the show, Edwards held a Q&A session with a group of reporters who were there to watch the taping and speak afterwards with the candidate. At the end of the Q&A, I held up a package of Eclipse gum which I found in my purse and asked Edwards the following: "Do you want to walk and chew gum?"
Edwards laughed, then said "I’m not sure I can." Edwards continued to laugh. "Good to see everybody," Edwards told the assembled group. He then walked out the door (without chewing gum), followed by nearly a dozen Edwards campaign staffers who were there.
Edwards is campaigning in Iowa today, tomorrow and Sunday. He’s touting a list of moves he says would help reduce health care costs. You’ll find a link to audio of the Edwards news conference (7 min) at the bottom of my story.
UPDATE! Mary Tiffany, a spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Iowa, offered a response moments ago. "People that live in glass mansions shouldn’t throw stones," she said in a statement via email. The "can’t walk and chew chewing gum" statement is "quite a hypocritical comment," according to Tiffany, who went on to say Edwards "doesn’t practice what he preaches…Poverty matters to him, yet he was paid $55,000 to speak about the issue."
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
Its “walk and chew chewing gum”. Edwards is using ABC gum (already been chewed) having first used that in the South Carolina Democrat debate of 2004.