Appearing in an open necked dress shirt with uprolled sleeves (stereotypical "casual" politican look), Sen. Edwards opened his remarks by noting that he and Elizabeth have been blogging, podcasting and videoblogging for a year -- learning about these technologies.

Technology optimist (at least for this audience) ... Edwards touts the power of social networks and "this technology" (web? web 2.0?) to shape democracy. He also, as expected, plugs net neutrality (note: it's network discrimination!).

Comment -> Suggest Edwards read Wisdom of Crowds - James Surowiecki - survey shows lots of people can make better decisions than experts.

Comment -> Marc Canter - I'm a third generation red-diaper baby (my grandfather was a commie, my dad was a commie ... laughter) ... I'm looking for some cojones. Edwards: Now I don't want you to hold back. (laughter). Comment -> Net neutrality ... that was a party-line vote. Let's say I'm running for President ... "Say, tell me Mr. Republican, why you won't support net neutrality? Take it to the mat."

Edwards: here's what I say ... and it's not just net neutrality ... if the Democratic party is going to lead this country, we have to have a backbone. No more mealy-mouth. It's not "access to health care" ... it should be "universal health care." Net neutrality is a place where we could do that.

Comment -> Importance of politicians being "real" versus falling into politic-speak. Edwards predicts: if not the next presidential election, then for sure the one after, the candidate will be "non political."

Comment -> Pennsylvania resident -> how involved should the government be in who does what on the internet also speak to taxing traffic. Edwards: Haven't thought enough about the second question to answer. Issues like people who prey on children that we have to pay attention to (note -> FUD is where Republicans excel at framing issues) ... but we have to be careful.

Comment -> Republicans are better at using language to frame issues. So what are you and others like you trying to do to change that language? (Reference to Lakoff, Don't Think of An Elephant.)

Edwards: I would not claim that I am an expert. I have a concern about too much energy being spent on strategy instead of doing the right thing. There are people in our party who do the same thing. My job is to figure out where the country needs to go and how to get there. I think that in presidential elections, the bigger issue is credibility and character. The people who decide the election ... nonsense to appeal to moderation. Language will not control the presidential election - people watch these two candidates. Is that a guy I want to be my president? Do I believe that they have character, integrity, ability to lead? Language is important in positioning national issues like partial birth abortion, network neutrality.

There is a battle going on for the soul of the Democratic party -- between those who think that triangulation and moderation and political maneuvering and half-steps is where we need to go. My view is you exhibit strength and the ability to lead with big ideas that you are willing to stand behind with backbone.

Comment -> Last election ... blogs had a political impact. What's the next technology? Is it text messaging ... [Note: Edwards has text messaging service on the OneAmerica webiste.]

Comment ->The sign this pledge approach is using the internet to do what we've always done. How do we move to a model where bottom up is empowered? Edwards: We get good ideas thru blogging. How do you empower, is a good point, people and their thinking so that they are generating ideas that they want to see their government engaged in and doing... we've just begun to use texting.

Comment -> Piggybacking on net monitoring ... calling records and financial records are being collected ... we don't want any party or any government to have this private information. Edwards: I think this is exactly what we need to be saying. This is the greatest time of risk. Luckily, the Supreme Court told this president yesterday that he's not above the law.

Comment -> Mitch Radcliffe ... I'd like to urge you to give a free seat to a grassroots journalist on your bus. Get the other side to do it, too. Citizens will be able to inject a forceful reality into the discussions.

Edwards: People don't have the kind of information that they ought to have to make decisions for the direction of the country. The second thing - they aren't engaged. Everybody believes that what politicians do is spoon-feed the public ... plastic veneer ... there's a reason people are cynical and distrusting. Anything we can do to give real access ... to what people really think ...

Comment -> Phil Torrone, MAKE -- importance of paper trail on electronic voting machines.

Poverty - what can we do to help? At every tech conference, the meme is "distributed intelligence." [No clear answer.]

Question: How can you take your experience as an effective lawyer and adopt that to the patient, which in this case is the country? Edwards: You have to be persuasive -- this is why Bill Clinton was effective. It's a much more complicated thing than people think -- you need credibility. What I've always said about courtrooms ... every trial is a battle for credibility. Know what you're doing and you're honest.

Comment -> importance of local government. This is a great place to look to for bottoms-up ideas, leadership. Put your technology energy behind local leaders.

Edwards: Help me and others open up this process so that it's not top-down.

Edited to clean up grammar, spelling, add blog links/authors of comments.

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