John Edwards Follow

5th district U.S. Representative John Lewis' congressional campaign today circulated photos of a January 2008 campaign event that showed one of his challengers, Markel Hutchins, sharing the stage with former North Carolina Senator John Edwards. Throughout his campaign to unseat Lewis, Markel Hutchins has frequently cited John Lewis' initial endorsement of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as evidence that Lewis is out of touch with his district. "I don't think that Congressman Lewis had the right as an elected representative to throw the support of the 5th Congressional district behind a candidate that the people in this district clearly were not favorable to," Hutchins told a WABE reporter in February. [Source: WABE-FM, "Clinton endorsement spurs Lewis' opponent", February 22, 2008] On January 19, 2008, John Edwards held an event at the IBEW union hall in Atlanta during his campaign for president. Appearing at the rally and pictured in the above photo are some of the most prominent Democrats in Georgia including Georgia state AFL-CIO president Richard Ray, former Lt. Governor Mark Taylor and former Governor Roy Barnes who is standing to the right of Markel Hutchins.