Legal career
 
Four Trials by John EdwardsBoth Edwards and his wife began private practice with law firms in Nashville, Tennessee. Edwards became an associate
 at the law firm of Dearborn & Ewing in 1978, doing primarily trial work, defending a Nashville bank and other corporate clients. The Edwards 
family
 (John, Elizabeth, and son Wade) returned to North Carolina in 1981, settling in the capital of Raleigh.



Edwards was involved in two well-publicized controversies during the 2004 presidential election. One centered on a comment he made in Iowa in October
 2004 concerning stem cell research:

If we can do the work that we can do in this country – the work we will do when John Kerry is president – people like Christopher Reeve are going to 
walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.[16]

— John Edwards, October 10, 2004, campaign event in Iowa''

The quote was later misquoted on the Drudge Report as: "When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of 
that wheelchair and walk again."[17] Reacting to the misquote, conservative Washington Post columnist and Fox News Channel contributor 
Charles Krauthammer stated, "For Edwards to make the claims he did is the worst demagoguery I've heard in Washington in a quarter-century. To imply 
that Christopher Reeve was kept in the wheelchair because of the policies of the Bush administration on stem cells is ridiculous and insulting."[18] 
Progressive research and information center Media Matters have argued that when the entire quote is used "Edwards was premising 'people like 
Christopher Reeve' 'walk[ing] again' on the outcome of research that a Kerry administration would support."[16]

Another controversial moment took place on October 5, 2004 during a televised debate between Edwards and Vice President Dick Cheney. In response to 
a question regarding gay marriage, Edwards made a reference to Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary Cheney, saying:

I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can't have anything but respect for the fact 
that they're willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her. It's a wonderful thing. And there are 
millions of parents like that who love their children, who want their children to be happy.

—John Edwards, Vice Presidential debate

In response, Cheney replied "let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very 
much."[19] A week later, Cheney pronounced himself "a pretty angry father" when Kerry answered the same question with a similar response.[20] While 
promoting  her book two years later, Mary Cheney – who had been out of the closet for a decade and had been the lesbian/gay corporate relations 
manager for the Coors Brewing Company[21] – objected, stating she thought it was a "cheap and blatant political ploy on behalf of Senator 
Edwards."[22]

The Kerry/Edwards ticket lost the 2004 election. Edwards did receive one Electoral Vote for President (due to a faithless elector in Minnesota).


[edit] Post Senate activities