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ROBBINS, N.C. — Two days after Democratic
presidential candidate John F. Kerry announced his choice of North
Carolina Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites) as a running mate, there
was little evidence of the event in Edwards' rural, industrial hometown.
There were no banners, no balloons, no Kerry-Edwards
lawn signs.
Although the owner of the Capt. Snipper Salon
and Day Spa had put up a hand-lettered poster on the morning of the
announcement — "Congradulations to John Edwards" —
that poster was gone by the next day.
At Amy's Cafe, old men in work-worn clothes
sat eating barbecue sandwiches. The police chief's office was empty
in the stifling heat; a door handle clattered to the floor when visitors
entered and exited the station.
"It's dead anyway," said Gary Maness,
59, the owner of B & G Fashion, along Robbins' two-block downtown.
"But on Wednesdays, it's even more dead."
In campaign speeches across the country, Edwards
has shaped his small-town upbringing into a resonant American story.
In some ways, the Robbins he describes holds true — with more
than 2,000 factory jobs lost since 1990, people can feel their town's
future constricting.
Most would agree with the small-town values
that Edwards evoked while campaigning in the Democratic primary: "Work.
Responsibility. A fair shake for all and a free ride for none."
What Edwards does not mention in these speeches
is the deep vein of Republicanism that runs through his hometown.
Edwards did not carry the county, Moore, in his run for the U.S. Senate;
in Robbins, the town that formed his political identity, he won 394
to 267.
And last week, as national attention was trained
on Edwards' charisma and character, some residents expressed lukewarm
feelings about his political ascent.
"He lives in Raleigh. He doesn't live
here," said Terry Parrott, a United Parcel Service deliveryman
who lives in nearby Carthage. "Seems like, in the last couple
of years, the only time he's been here was when the news comes to
town."
But many people in this community of 1,200
remember Edwards fondly. His parents, Wallace and Bobbie, are well-loved
residents of Robbins
Middle-aged women gush like schoolgirls over
how cute he was when they passed him in the halls of North Moore High
School. Others remember him as a likable, ordinary kid, more interested
in sports than in school or politics.
A few give descriptions of an unusual young
man. The Rev. John L. Frye Jr., one of Edwards' closest friends, and
now the pastor of a church in Aiken, S.C., said he saw a powerful
compassion building in Edwards while they were growing up together.
Edwards grew up watching working people like
his parents struggle to get ahead, said Frye, 51. Sympathy for working
people "is at the center of his being," Frye said.
Populism was a bone-deep tradition in Robbins
even before it became an industrial center. While the plantation economy
to the north and the south raked in money, "there wasn't a slave
within 10 miles" of Robbins, said John L. Frye Sr., 85, a former
mayor. The Scotch-Irish farmers eked out a living in hilly land and
refused to join the Confederacy, Frye said.
"We are all outliers up here," he
said.
At the time of the Civil War, voters in Robbins
supported Abraham Lincoln and became Republicans, although the South
then was overwhelmingly Democratic. Conservative Democrats have long
since switched parties, but Robbins holds "the original Republicans
in the South," said Bill Newton, chairman of the Moore County
Democratic Committee.
Efforts to organize Democrats in Robbins have
failed miserably, Newton said.
Loyalty to the GOP runs so deep here that the
younger Frye, who ran his family's clothing store in Robbins for 14
years, was careful never to put a sign up supporting a Democratic
candidate for fear of damage to his business.
When Edwards left Robbins after his high school
graduation, he — like many of his classmates — encountered
a world of new influences.
Raised Republican, he became a Democrat. He
married Elizabeth Anania, a brilliant law student whose father, a
Navy officer, had moved the family around the country and overseas.
Edwards became a personal injury lawyer and a multimillionaire.
Edwards' party is not the only quality that
unnerves people in Robbins; many here find the practice of law immoral.
The elder Frye flatly refused to contribute tuition to send his son
to law school; "the law profession," he said, "is not
an honest profession."
Linda Sheffield, a clerk at Frye's department
store, remembers a customer coming up to her with a look of worry,
saying her son had expressed an interest in practicing law. The customer
asked Sheffield whether lawyers went to heaven when they died.
The election season has brought with it an
air of tension, as people weigh pride and affection against partisan
convictions. In a town like Robbins, "when you go in to vote,
everyone knows what you're doing in there," said Sheila Powers,
who works at the Baker & Candlestick Maker, a downtown bakery.
"I think it's causing arguments in families,"
she said.
In the meantime, residents are bound to see
and hear much more of the man who left Robbins almost 35 years ago.
Elaine Williams, who was in Edwards' high school
class, looked wistful as she mused about his life since graduation.
As for her, she lost the brick house she once owned in town and now
lives in a trailer in the country.
She works as a stocker at Fred's, a discount
store. It's the best job she has ever had.
"Anybody that can get out of the town
of Robbins without getting stuck here their whole life does pretty
well," she said. "One day, maybe I will."
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