You pose the question "Healthcare or Haircuts?" but i'm afraid the media has already chosen the latter for us.

Bad haircuts cost elections.

I love how this website is a spin machine for the Edwards Campaign. I think what the media is speaking about is the all of it. The issues that matter for the next president.

1. Working for a offshore tax shelter
2. His poverty center as a shell for running and funding his campaign.
3. His votes in the U.S. Senate a. Voted for the war b. Voted for no child left behind c. Voted for fast track for China d. Voted for dumping Nuclear waste in Nevada e. Voted for the Patriot Act f. Voted for the Bankruptcy Reform Bill which hurt working people.

Lets stick to the issues that matter, the $400 haircut just speaks more about who he is as an individual. I am more concerned about his judgement and I think he would have terrible judgement as the next president.

Now he just needs one of those clips to justify his house.

"Now he just needs one of those clips to justify his house."

It's gonna take more than one of those clips, Portland Dem.

Since the 2008 campaign began we've sent $200 to Edwards and a like amount to Obama, but the more I read about that house the more it disturbs me. Of course the man has a right to spend his money as he sees fit, but the house is so nouveau riche, so ostentatious, so inappropriate for one couple and three children that I'm putting all my money and energy into Senator Obama's campaign.

I don't think John Edwards is a bad guy, I just think the house is another indicator of poor judgment.

"Now he just needs one of those clips to justify his house."

It's gonna take more than one of those clips, Portland Dem.

Since the 2008 campaign began we've sent $200 to Edwards and a like amount to Obama, but the more I read about that house the more it disturbs me. Of course the man has a right to spend his money as he sees fit, but the house is so nouveau riche, so ostentatious, so inappropriate for one couple and three children that I'm putting all my money and energy into Senator Obama's campaign.

I don't think John Edwards is a bad guy, I just think the house is another indicator of poor judgment.

Edwards has already said that his vote to authorize military action in Iraq was a mistake. He's said as much repeatedly and for a long while now, which is a damn bit more than Mrs. Clinton has been willing to do.

I know the war is the main issue for a lot of folks, but for me the number one issue on my mind is the need for universal health coverage. And in this issue, Edwards is the candidate I favor. And this Hair ad is one of the most brilliant video spots I've seen in a long, long time.

Edwards shoulda' shaved his head bald to keep Americas' attention and shame the right-wing for focusing their "intellect" on such a hair-brained subject...

I feel for him sorta but this is no "swift boat" attack. This is calling him out on his judgment.

I find it hard for myself cause I remember seeing Michael Moore talk several years ago about Dennis Kucinich and how he wasn't pro-choice. Then after Dennis changed his mind - are we supposed to shun him or open our arms and the tent and let him in. Well, the second one I believe. So, I will forgive Edwards for his original stance on the war but it is hard for me to forgive him to the extent that I would consider voting for him (as of yet).

I'd like to give him more of a break but again he used the term "swift boat" to redirect. Heck, I wouldn't have even mentioned the house or the haircut if he hadn't brought it up.

Edwards has already said that his vote to authorize military action in Iraq was a mistake. He's said as much repeatedly and for a long while now, which is a damn bit more than Mrs. Clinton has been willing to do.

That's just what we need: another president who makes mistakes. I guess foresight isn't a requirement for the job? Edwards' voting record is horrible. We need Al Gore

Have you signed the petition?

HUH?? "We need Al Gore"??????????

OMG. We need a Dem in the white house....nominating Gore would be giving the election away.

As for Edwards...if we are going to eliminae potential standard bearers based on the value of house they live in then neither party is going to have much to choose from. They pretty much ALL live privileged life styles.

That's just what we need: another president who makes mistakes.

And I suppose you know of any human being, much less one running for elected office, who never makes a mistake?

Since everybody is prone to error...that's just human nature...what we need is a leader who has the intellectual honesty to recognize a mistake for what it is and is humble enough to own up to it before the nation. We certainly don't have that now.

Perhaps they decided to focus their attention on the issues

That's the tact that John Kerry took when the right wing spin machine wouldn't let up on the swift boat attacks. The problem is, Edwards is in the awkward position of defending gawdawfully expensive haircuts (plural) before an already biased jury of his non-peers.

His hairstylist himself went on record saying the price of the haircuts was $300-$500 PLUS expenses for travel/time. And he's claiming multiple such haircuts. Should this disqualify Edwards. Absofrickin not, but the media has a funny way of deciding what stays news. With recent headlines screaming

Cost Of Edwards' Haircut Hits $1,250

It's my fear that blue Oregonians won't even get to weigh in on Edwards. Like the Dean Scream, the Edwards (nothing-rhymes-with-edwards) Haircut will be the artificial issue du jour which eliminates an otherwise qualified candidate.

Hey Anonymous- Could you explain to me exactly how John Edwards voted for the bankruptcy reform bill of 2005 when he was no longer in the Senate?

And speaking of priveleged Democratic presidential candidates that lead lives of excess, I can't think of any of them ever helping out the working class. No, Franklin Roosevelt definately does not come to mind. Hmm..

It's not about inheriting wealth and the accoutrements. It's not about owning an expensive house. It's about BUILDING a house that covers about half a football field and includes indoor sports courts, 2 theaters, and a separate guest house that most of us would dream of living in.

It's about walking like Donald Trump while you're talking like Bobby Kennedy... and I've been in Hickory Hill and, while it's lovely, it would fit in the theater wing of the Edwards' mansion.

And considering that there was more than one $400 haircut, including one, according to the stylist, that was a lot more than $400 because they flew him cross country.

Finally, the John Edwards health plan is another employer-based plan and that is simply not the answer. It is, in fact, putting lipstick on the pig.

John Edwards is good enough looking that he could easily get by with a $6-$7 small town haircut that would be worth far more in positive public relations across grass roots america than any number of $400+ haircuts ever would be.

Most people must know he and his wife are rich people, just like they knew F.D.R. was a rich guy. The important question is whether he's really got the wisdom and character to rise above those material constants with an extraordinarily compelling set of ideas to help the country function better.

I've known for a while that $400 haircuts exist. I'm not favorably impressed with what they suggest about the character of the people that get them, when those people are positioning themselves to take a leadership role in american politics.

Maybe the backstory is true, and maybe it isn't. So how much did the haircut cost without the wait-around time figured in? $60-$70? Any way you cut it, it sounds like Edwards is letting himself be packaged and delivered by the glam strategists. I've liked some of his ideas, but I don't want to vote for somebody that isn't even smart enough to manage his own personal image.

Good Lord, a $6-$7 haircut? What decade are you living in? I live in a small town and Hairmasters - the cheapest in town - STARTS at $16 without a wash, blow dry, or styling. My 11 year old son cost $14. I decided to use the dog clippers on him (they are $120 clippers and are pretty dang good).

For middle incomers, a $40-$60 haircut is probably not unheard of.

Buy a clue, dude.

You can get $10-12 at a couple one chair places up and down SE Division in Portland. Here's the problem.

Edwards wants to talk about health care. The conversation quickly turns towards haircuts.

For me, spending a shinola-load money on your hair is way, way down on my list of reasons why not to vote for someone. But i'm often criticized for being too much the critical thinker.

I'm reminded of this Sunday's Meet the Press. The round table of dull thinkers was trying so desperately to create some sort of faux conflict between Clinton and Obama: "She was all '' and he was like 'no you di'int' and she just..." As if any of this artifical strife had the slightest bearing on their respective candidacies.

Long story short, we're being disserved by the media, and i'm afraid it's no accident.

Dickey47....hey!...ease up man! Alright, I kind of guessed about what a small town haircut costs these days, in part because, poor as I am, I haven't had a barber shop haircut in decades. Seriously. Learned to cut it myself alright. East Bank Thom has noticed $10-$12 cuts, but I'll keep my eyes open. Seems as though I've heard cheaper.

Anyways E B Thom, the point I was trying to make, is it's not just the big bucks for the cut that raises caution about a persons competency to run the country; Is Edwards his own man with his own mind, or as the campaign winds on, is he increasingly just a product of glam artists and spin meisters that the heads on Meet the Press can't help but work for a 10 second laugh? This foo-foo hair-do dalliance is for the birds, and Edwards does not seem to have handled the collateral damage well.

" ... the $400 haircut just speaks more about who he is as an individual. I am more concerned about his judgement and I think he would have terrible judgement as the next president."

Better a $400 haircut than a $400 billion war.

"Everyone in this race is rich. They make six figures before the decimal point ..."

Six figures ain't "rich" these days, dude. "Rich" means an annual income in seven figures and a net worth in nine figures.

Am I the only one who thinks it's ironic that the Grand Old Plutocracy is trying to make an issue out of Edwards's money and the lifestyle it supports? At least he made his pile through his own brains, talents and effort.

First of all

Brian he voted for the bankruptcy reform bill of 2001 in the U.S. Senate which hurt working people.

finally....

Dartagnan I guess you have short term memory loss and forgot how hawkish Senator Edwards was about the Iraq war in 2004 running for President and then Vice President. Oh wait if you delve further back you might realize he VOTED FOR THE IRAQ WAR. hmmmmmmmm