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WASHINGTON
- August 21 - MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- At a town hall meeting hosted by his campaign yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Edwards
(D-NC) avoided questions from Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM) as his campaign workers attempted to block GSMM volunteers from displaying protest signs in Manchester's City Hall Plaza.
GSMM volunteers protested Sen. Edwards' July 15 statement that he would continue the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids on seriously ill medical marijuana patients, holding signs that read "Shame on Edwards," "Edwards Wants to Jail Medical Marijuana Patients," "Edwards Doesn't Care about Cancer Patients," and "Stop Arresting Patients."
When four GSMM members entered City Hall Plaza with the signs, several campaign staff members attempted to block the way. After the protesters from GSMM refused to leave, another unidentified Edwards campaign staff member approached them and offered a one-on-one meeting with Sen. Edwards if the protesters would agree not to display the signs.
As the forum started, six Edwards campaign workers held Edwards' campaign yard signs in front of the GSMM protesters to block television cameras from viewing the protesters' signs. At one point during the forum, an unidentified Edwards campaign worker became so flustered that she forcibly grabbed GSMM Campaign Coordinator Aaron Houston's sign, crumpled it, and walked away with it.
GSMM member Linda Macia, who suffers from debilitating illnesses for which conventional medications have not provided relief, said, "His campaign formed a wall of people in front of my wheelchair," referring to campaign workers who positioned themselves around Macia to block her sign. "Edwards is too much of a weasel to tell a wheelchair-bound patient to her face that he would jail seriously ill people for taking their medicine. We don't need a coward as president."
Jeff Sullivan, a resident of Manchester attending the event, expressed his disapproval of the Edwards campaign's actions. "I was disappointed that the Edwards campaign organization wouldn't allow people just to show their signs," Sullivan said. "This is the town meeting, everyone's invited. People should be allowed to come as they are."
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