Edwards AWOL from NH "100 Club" Dinner

Each winter, the New Hampshire Democratic Party hosts a "100 Club" dinner as it's premiere fundraising event. In the Granite State, famous for its first-in-the-nation primary, the dinner is more than just a moneymaker and a celebration of the party's victories, it is a chance for Presidential candidates to show their interest through buying tickets at $100 dollars a seat and hob-nobbing with all the state party big wigs.

Last year Hillary Clinton was the featured speaker, presiding over an event that brought in a record-breaking $100,000. The year before that it was candidate flirt Mark Warner. Back in 2005, John Edwards headlined the event fresh off of his Vice Presidential run and at the very beginning of his 2008 race.

This time around, in a heated election year, all of the Democratic presidential candidates have been invited to the event that the party hopes will ride the post-caucus fanfare to a windfall in the area of $400,000.

"We would expect, and most would say that [the 100 club dinner] is the best place to be," said New Hampshire Democratic Party Communications Director Pia Carusone. "We hope they all attend."

Judging from posted campaign schedules, that isn't entirely the case. Clinton will be there. Obama will be there. But Edwards, the former keynoter?

He'll be in sixty-five miles away in Portsmouth. According to his schedule he has a town hall meeting there at 6:30PM. New Hampshire is a small state, but not that small. Getting the sixty-some-odd miles from Portsmouth to Milford in under a half hour is rather impossible, even for a speeding motorcade.

This is not the only time in recent days that Edwards has split from the party norm. He is the only candidate in the so-called top tier to refrain from condemning Saturday's ABC/WMUR/Facebook debate's decision to trim the Democratic field. Does this mark a strategic shift toward independent voters for John Edwards as the primary date approaches? Or is it a play to talk to the people, not the powerful? The campaign has not returned requests for comments, so the Granite State will be left guessing. But one thing is for sure, an Edwards absence from New Hampshire premier party fundraiser will be inconspicuous, indeed.

Comments

[jeanruss]

He knows who he works for and it is US-Edwards inspires me more every day-He is not an ass kisser .

[seamusnh]

Helicopter?

[juliewolves]

another try by Huffington Post to dis Edwards. Almost as bad as MSM.

[Mango]

"..an Edwards absence from New Hampshire premier party fundraiser will be inconspicuous, indeed."

Well then no wonder he's skipping it.