Brad Miller: “I rise to express my hometown pride in the presumptive Vice Presidential nominee of my party, John Edwards. John Edwards…”

“I rise to express my hometown pride in the presumptive Vice Presidential nominee of my party, John Edwards. John Edwards has been very, very successful in his life. We used to call that the American Dream. But that is not where he started out. Where he started out and how he got where he is today is important, and he has learned from it. I know that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are very tired of hearing that Senator Edwards is the son of a mill worker, but it is true and it is important. He understands what most folks' lives are like because his life has been the same way. His father worked in the mill, as my father did. His mother worked in the post office. His life has been like the lives of ordinary Americans. He had to depend on public schools to get ahead. Wallace and Bobbi Edwards could never in this world have sent John Edwards to some expensive New England boarding school. He had to go to the public schools. He understands to the depth of his soul the importance of public education for middle-class Americans and the importance of public education in creating opportunities for ordinary Americans.”