Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards is launching a return to politics by running for Congress. His campaign comes 50 years after he first served as a state senator, and three years after he was released from federal prison, where he was serving time on corruption charges. Edwards nicknamed the "Silver Fox" says public life is his calling. "It's in my blood," he tells NPR. Travis Spradling/SP hide caption
Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards is launching a return to politics by running for Congress. His campaign comes 50 years after he first served as a state senator, and three years after he was released from federal prison, where he was serving time on corruption charges. Edwards nicknamed the "Silver Fox" says public life is his calling. "It's in my blood," he tells NPR.
There's a familiar name on the ballot in Louisiana this fall. Edwin Edwards octogenarian, felon and former four-term governor of the state is trying to make a political comeback. With his roguish Cajun charm, and a new 30-something wife and 1-year old son by his side, the Democrat is running for Congress in a heavily Republican district.
Can he still woo voters, or is it a foolish campaign dredging up bad memories of the ethical swamp of Louisiana politics?
Turning The Charm Up Again
Edwards is 87, and he spent eight years in federal prison for corruption. But don't think for a second that age or the pen somehow softened his ability to work his audience including an NPR reporter.
"People who listen to public radio don't vote for candidates like me," he says.
Sporting suspenders and a crisply pressed polo, the silver-haired Edwards holds court in his Baton Rouge campaign office, with a baby bouncer stowed in the corner.
"I'm of the people. I'm common. I'm ordinary," he says. "I don't speak good English, cher."
But Edwards is anything but ordinary. He's the last in a line of larger-than-life populist Democrats who once dominated Louisiana politics think Huey Long.
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Ex-Con, Future Congressman? Former Gov. Edwin Edwards Campaigns Again