Opinion: Edwards hits the pavement with striking writers

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The leading Democratic presidential hopefuls have all issued statements of support for the striking Hollywood writers, but former Sen. John Edwards showed up today to walk one of the picket lines.

Edwards appeared outside the NBC studios in Burbank this afternoon amid a crush of reporters and news photographers, who jostled to get pictures of the candidate marching along with several hundred Writers Guild members. With sleeves rolled up and tie loosened, Edwards pushed through the crowd. He stepped up onto a concrete bench and grabbed a bullhorn.

‘It’s a great privilege for me to walk with you, to stand with you,’ he told the strikers. ‘I want you to know that your brothers and sisters in unions across this country walk with you. They’re in this cause with you. I’m in the cause with you. It’s about justice and fairness and equality.’

Edwards -- a longtime advocate of organized labor -- used the opportunity to call for more support of all unions. ‘We must strengthen and grow the union movement in America,’ he said. ‘It’s the only way we can insure that these corporate conglomerates don’t take over the United States.’

The crowd responded with cheers: ‘USA. WGA.’

Edwards, who was accompanied by actor James Denton (he plays Mike the plumber on ‘Desperate Housewives’) spent about half an hour with strikers before getting back into a blue minivan, which whisked him down Alameda Avenue to another engagement.

--Tina Daunt

(This item is also posted on the Times’ Show Tracker blog.)