And wasn’t bound by it. President Bush left for a month’s vacation after a burst of victories in the House–the half of Congress he and his party control (barely). Bush gave just enough ground to pass an energy measure and an HMO bill that would give patients new rights to visit doctors and emergency rooms but restrict lawsuits in terms of venue, burden of proof and damages. “We showed we could overcome deadlock,” said Bush, eager to split for his ranch.
He should enjoy the rest, because when he gets back he’ll have to pacify the part of Congress that Democrats control (barely): the Senate. There Bush faces figures eager to rise by taking him on. On the patient’s bill of rights, that’s Edwards, the lead negotiator on legal issues in a troika with Kennedy and McCain. “We’re all for getting a bill signed into law,” Edwards told NEWSWEEK. Things “need not get personal” as bargainers attempt to reconcile the Bush-backed House version with the one the Senate passed, mostly with Democratic votes. Still, said Edwards, the Bush bill was “fatally flawed. Every step of the way, we’ve been on the side of patients and he’s been on the side of HMOs. It’s no more complicated than that.”
It is, in fact, a bit more complicated than that. Reformers contend that HMOs don’t deserve the substantial immunity from lawsuits they acquired as an unintended byproduct of a federal pension-protection law passed a quarter century ago. It shields from scrutiny a vast for-profit industry that today covers 80 million people. The White House and its allies in business contend that opening HMOs to unlimited liability would send premiums skyward, force employers to stop offering coverage altogether and benefit lawyers, not patients.
This fall, potential deal-killing disputes will be about law, not medicine, which puts Edwards front and center. With movie-star looks and down-home charm, the 48-year-old Edwards has rocketed from private law practice in North Carolina to a lead role on Capitol Hill in three years. Edwards doesn’t so much work a room as take it by storm. Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, a friend, agrees with the common view: “He’s hungry,” he said, meaning it as a compliment.
These days, Congress is as much about 30-second TV ads as it is about substance. Republicans think Edwards can yield protective footage if Congress fails to pass a bill Bush is willing to sign. A plaintiff’s attorney, Edwards made a fortune (estimated at $25 million) arguing 60 major cases against deep-pocketed corporations. Democrats already rely heavily on lawyers and law firms (they contributed some $70 million in the last election cycle). “Edwards is perfect for us,” said Alex Castellanos, a GOP media consultant. “I can write the ad now: a sick child without health coverage. Why? Because Congress sent us a lawyer, not a doctor.”
But Edwards’s populism is legit. He is the son of small-town textile workers, and the first in his family to attend college. His adult life has been full of tests. In 1996 his beloved 16-year-old son, Wade (“my best friend”), was killed in a car crash on the way to a week at the beach. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth (also an attorney), have a daughter in college, and two toddlers. He’s the only senator whose kids are enrolled in the Senate’s day-care center. He drops them off and picks them up most days. “He can ‘policy’ left and ‘culture’ right,” says a leading GOP consultant, “and that’s a powerful combination.”
White House insiders think–hope–that Edwards will decide his future is better served by cutting a deal with Bush than by killing one. “He needs to show he can get something accomplished,” said one Bushie. Even so, the White House isn’t planning to rely on Edwards. Instead, the president has been cultivating Ted Kennedy, with whom he shares a multigenerational family history in politics.
As for Edwards, he’s up for reelection in 2004. In the meantime, he is aggressively exploring a presidential bid. This recess he will travel to Israel and Egypt before heading to California to see donors. (He’s worked the Hollywood crowd, including Disney’s Michael Eisner.) He’ll also meet and greet potential donors in Alabama, Georgia–and Nashville, Tenn. Of course, that’s home to Al Gore, who considered Edwards as his running mate. Gore’s staff went so far as to interview scores of former jurors. They gave him rave reviews. But Edwards is in a bigger courtroom now, and the jury may be the country.
