Edwards joins Florida university strike

We wrote several months ago about the time in 2004 that the entire National Stonewall Democrats board of directors crossed a picket line of firefighters to get to their board meeting in Providence. We pointed out that good Democrats simply don't do such a thing, and our readers agreed energetically.

Not only our readers agreed: John Edwards, as we wrote at the time, gave NSD an object lesson in how to treat faithful Democratic constituencies by refusing several weeks later to cross the same picket line. Edwards' principles meant that he had to skip a high-dollar Providence fundraiser, but he remained true to core Democratic values -- something that NSD's board, headed by co-chairs Julian Potter (since departed) and Stephen Driscoll, did not do.

Edwards is at it again. He and a number of labor and civil rights leaders marched earlier today at the University of Miami to show support for striking service workers who are demanding a raise and who want to organize with the Service Employees International Union.

We realize that Edwards is running for President, and that his action may have a certain calculation to it. But any time that a political figure finds that his or her interests intersect with the daily interests of hard-working men and women, good is often the result. That is the present case with Mr. Edwards, and it should have been the case with the National Stonewall Democrats two years ago.

One other thing: Where was Hillary?