On Elizabeth Edwards

News of Elizabeth Edwards' death yesterday was unwelcome. Of all of the political figures who came from outside the state to campaign in Iowa before the 2008 precinct caucuses, no one was more personable than she was.

I don't know how she supported John during that time. She knew
more then than what we all know now. She wore her cancer and her family troubles on her sleeve
and kept working. That's one of the reasons she earned our respect and why we will miss her now that she is gone.


Somewhere there is a photograph of my wife and me with Elizabeth Edwards when she was autographing a copy of her book for us. The artifacts of brief moments together are not needed to remember her. Etched in memory are images of her sitting in stifling heat in a barn at the county fairgrounds, door knocking for John, making packages to send to troops in Iraq with her children, and that long conversation over the book signing.

~Paul Deaton is a
native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend editor of
Blog for Iowa. E-mail
Paul Deaton