John Edwards Shines a Loving Light on Cleveland's Poverty

When presdential candidates come to our lovely town, they bring national attention for a few minutes while they’re out pandering for votes in the most precious of swing states. All that’s fine and dandy -- until they start making your town look like shit in front of the national cameras. That’s what happened last week with the arrival of John Edwards, currently on his I Hope I Can Catch Obama and Hillary Tour. Unlike the president the week before, Edwards didn’t spend his time in Cleveland sucking down Pastrami at Slyman’s. Instead he toured the East Side to unveil his new fight in the war against poverty – taking on predatory lenders. So he walked around East 112th talking to people in front of boarded up homes. Along with the press were a few of campaign volunteers. One had these wonderful nuggets of wisdom to share on the blogs section of the Edwards website after interviewing a resident there. “She told me she was in Downtown Cleveland and literally saw homeless people laying on the sidewalk! She wants to know where Clinton and Obama are getting money in Cleveland... it sure isn't coming from this neighborhood!” Homeless people downtown! Guess it must just be a Cleveland thing. – T.K. Kim