Cate Edwards campaigns for her dad

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Just behind the swarm of cameras and supporters surrounding Sen. John Edwards, his daughter Cate '04 engaged a small crowd of her own. Like her father, Cate turned a genuine smile to everyone she met, shifting the attention away from herself to the young girls and mothers eager to meet the potential first daughter.

As the Jan. 27 primary drew closer, Cate could be seen on CNN and the BBC, standing behind "Dad" on makeshift stages in elementary schools and town churches, never failing to applaud the stump speech she could probably have recited by heart.

She spoke to young Democrats throughout the state and helped keep up her father's spirits as they rode the Edwards bus from rundown industrial cities to quaint seaside towns.

She signed autographs and turned down marriage proposals, wondering why anyone thought she was important. Despite a few pieces of fan mail that amused both her and her roommates, most local residents saw Cate as the shy, sweet daughter serving as a self-described "character witness" for her father.

"People want to know what kind of a person you are, and I think your family really reflects that," Cate said.

As both admiring daughter and reasoned advocate, Cate, and her family, were on display — carefully posed for the herds of media to show the youthful Senator grounded by his wife of 26 years and his composed, poised daughter of 21. Every round of applause, as well as every absent look, was recorded by national and international news crews eager to broadcast an image of the Edwards family to the world.

In her time off, Cate found relief among the 16 University students also campaigning for Edwards in New Hampshire. Many had joined the campaign out of loyalty to Cate, though by the end of the trip all spoke enthusiastically about his message.

After leaving her father's side, Cate became just another excited college volunteer at local bars and town restaurants.

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When Cate met with voters, they wanted to know where she went to school, and what her major was — "Politics, of course," she always answered with a small laugh.

Activists such as the employees and volunteers of Planned Parenthood voiced their concerns to Cate, knowing she would bring the group's concerns to the Senator's attention.

Yet while surrounded by the demands of the campaign, Cate's friends say she has shown a remarkable ability to stay grounded.

"I can't think of a better person to negotiate this process," Steve Porter '04 said. "She's completely taken it in stride."

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While Cate's friend and freshman year roommate Erica Hahn '04 said Cate has had no hesitations about campaigning with her father, Cate inevitably misses the life at the University.

Few students have to tear themselves away from CNN's coverage of the Iowa caucuses in order to study for final exams or spend bicker touring South Carolina.

"She wants to be everywhere," Hahn said. "She wants to be with her father campaigning and she wants to be with her friends."

Yet Cate says the race interferes less with her schoolwork than she had expected. Her parents, their campaign organizers and staffers will become primary sources for her thesis on presidential primaries, which will feature the Edwards campaign as a case study. The challenge will be to study a race in which she is so intimately involved from a more analytical perspective.

Behind the scenes, Cate believes she plays an important role for her father.

"I think [Dad] has a lot more energy and is a lot happier and more comfortable when he knows he has his family around him, especially the kids," Cate said, referring to her younger siblings, Emma Claire, 5, and Jack, 3. "He'll come home at night and they'll totally energize him."

Cate says that her father's values — the same ones he speaks of on stage — have greatly influenced her life.

"He's my dad, so he taught me everything that I know and he's a big part of who I am," Cate said. "He's taught me to be honest, and to be courageous, and to never look down on anyone."

Yet Cate does not pretend to understand her father's experience as the son of a mill worker, unloading tractor trailers in the heat of a Carolina summer to pay for college.

"I don't live the life that he describes, but since he is my dad and he did grow up that way, there is so much of that understanding that he passed on to me," Cate said. "I've been brought up to recognize how fortunate I am."

While some who met Cate thought she was ready for politics herself, she does not share her father's political aspirations.

"I think we have similarities, but I don't have the political talent that he does," Cate said, noting that despite her father's abilities, "he's not really a politician either."