Rep. Edwards says he's happy to work behind the scenes

WASHINGTON — Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco says he prefers to fly under the radar, describing himself as a work horse and not a show horse.

"It doesn’t bother me for a minute that I’m unknown throughout the country," he said in an interview in his House office overlooking the U.S. Capitol.

But if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has her way, Edwards could be propelled from relative obscurity to a spot on the Democratic presidential ticket.

In a surprise endorsement last month, Pelosi touted Edwards as a running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, instantly elevating Edwards’ profile and putting the nine-term congressman at the center of a burst of media attention.

The endorsement not only made Edwards a long-shot contender for the national ticket, but it also underscored his stature in the Democratic-controlled House.

Among Democratic colleagues, Edwards, 56, is a political hero for death-defying re-election victories in a district that is overwhelmingly Republican. For the first time in years, he is easily favored over a Republican challenger, businessman Rob Curnock, in November.

Since Democrats took over the House in January 2007, Edwards has served as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. Last year he pushed through the largest increase in veterans funding in nearly eight decades. He works closely with the House leadership and is respected on both sides of the aisle for his stewardship of veterans’ issues as the nation is embroiled in conflicts in two countries.

At a June 26 news conference, Pelosi said Edwards would be a "great addition to the ticket." She called him "an extraordinarily talented person" and "one of the finest people I have ever served with."

'Very humbled’

Edwards says he is "very humbled" by the endorsement but declines to discuss it further. "Sen. Obama said publicly that he wants to keep the vice presidential process quiet," Edwards said in an interview. "He’s earned the right to have that wish respected."

Analysts and some lawmakers say Edwards’ prospects of landing on the ticket are remote at best. He could possibly help the ticket in the South and Southwest and among moderates and conservatives, experts say, but as a House member, he has little name recognition and a political base that is confined to a single congressional district.

"I think it’s extremely unlikely," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Report, a nonpartisan newsletter. "I expect the speaker knows it’s unlikely, but she just tossed out the name of one of her colleagues just to make a point: 'Don’t forget about the House.’ "

Edwards is generally regarded as a moderate conservative who is often in tune with — but doesn’t officially belong to — a group of like-minded Democrats known as the Blue Dogs. Pelosi, the first female House speaker, by contrast, is a liberal from San Francisco.

Despite their philosophical differences, Edwards and Pelosi have been friends since they shared neighboring offices in the Rayburn House Office Building and often walked to the Capitol together to cast votes. They became close allies on veterans issues about five years ago, Edwards said.

"In my lifetime, no other speaker has done more substantially in behalf of the veterans than Speaker Pelosi," Edwards said. "She may oppose a war but she will respect and honor, in a meaningful way, the veterans."

A Democrat on GOP turf

Edwards represents the 17th Congressional District, composed of nine counties and parts of three others, in Central and North Texas. It reaches northward to the Fort Worth suburbs in Johnson County and includes two other population centers: Waco, the home of Baylor University, and College Station, the home of Texas A&M.

Edwards, who was elected to Congress in 1990, formerly represented the 11th District but was placed in an overwhelmingly Republican district in a mid-decade redistricting effort designed to strengthen Republican control in the U.S. House. The plan was led by then-House Republican Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land and executed by Republican legislators in Austin.

Of the six Texas Democrats seeking re-election in 2004, only Edwards survived, defeating then-State Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth from Johnson County by 51 percent to 47 percent. In 2006, he defeated Van Taylor by 58 percent to 40 percent, a lopsided margin that bolstered his resiliency in a politically hostile district.

With his reputation as a survivor, Edwards is often called on to provide "how-I-did-it" tutorials at House issues conferences, Pelosi press secretary Brendan Daly said. House Democrats, as well as national Democratic strategists, regard him as a vital asset in keeping a vulnerable district out of Republican control.

"He’s been a valuable lieutenant to the speaker in the unlikeliest of places," said David Wasserman, House race editor for the Cook Political Report. "If you could imagine a seat anywhere in the country where a Democrat would be less popular than famine or social disease, this would be it."

Wasserman says Edwards’ re-election in November "looks like a very safe bet." Curnock, a former reporter and sports anchor at KWTX-TV in Waco, said he entered the race at the urging of political activists and county chairmen but has received no help from Republicans at the national level, a departure from the earlier contests.

As of March, he had raised just over $6,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, compared with the $1.5 million that Edwards has raised.

Congressional challenger

But in a telephone interview, Curnock, 50, dismissed the characterization that his candidacy is a hopeless cause. "I think there are going to be a lot of surprised people," Curnock said. "He’s living on borrowed time."

Curnock said that Edward’s ties to Pelosi and his support of Obama are major liabilities in a district that is more than 60 percent Republican. "That’s not a real popular move in this area," he said.

Edwards became an Obama supporter before the Texas primary after being impressed with the candidate’s responses during a gathering with a small group of House members.

"I believe he can be a transformational — not an incremental — president," Edwards said, predicting that Obama will be "very competitive" in Texas.

Edwards’ colleagues say he is friendly and unpretentious, with an evenhanded approach on resolving issues. He lives with his wife, Lea Ann, and their two sons, ages 10 and 12, in the northern Virginia suburbs and says that family is his first priority.

"I’ve seen a lot of people come to Washington and get carried away with their power and fame and put their families on the back burner," he said. "My wife and I committed years ago never to make that same mistake."