LIKE A DAN QUAYLE WITH NATURAL ENEMIES:

A Trial Lawyer on Ticket Has Corporate U.S. Seeing Red: With Edwards as their lightning rod, business interests see Nov. 2 as critical to 'legal reform.' (David G. Savage, September 13, 2004, LA Times)

The billionaire chairman of an insurance company describes members of the group as "terrorists." To the head of a national wholesalers group, they seem like "predators."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring a $10-million advertising campaign to "educate voters about the devastating impact" these people are having on the American way of life.

The target of these attacks is not Al Qaeda or some new pestilence sweeping the nation. It's trial lawyers.

These days, the people who bring personal injury lawsuits against corporations, insurers and healthcare providers have replaced "union bosses" as the group that corporate America identifies as its key public enemy. And this year, more than ever before, the war of words between corporate leaders and trial lawyers echoes in the battle for the White House.

President Bush has long campaigned against what he calls "frivolous and junk lawsuits," and he hopes to make "tort reform" a centerpiece of a second term in office. Many business leaders hope he gets a chance.

"We cannot ignore what may prove to be a make-or-break election for legal reform at the national level," said Thomas J. Donohue, the chamber's president, shunning the business lobby's traditional neutrality in presidential races. "When voters go to the polls, they need to know lawsuit abuse destroys jobs, drives doctors out of business and forces companies into bankruptcy."

The assault on trial lawyers has particular resonance in 2004, as business leaders confront the prospect that a highly successful trial lawyer — Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina — will be a heartbeat away from the presidency if his Democratic running mate, Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, wins the White House.

"You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-patient, pro-hospital and pro-trial lawyer at the same time," Bush said at a rally Friday in West Virginia. "You have to choose. My opponent made his choice, and he put him on the ticket."

What makes Mr. Edwards an even worse pick though is that he didn't bring any positives--besides telegenicity--along with him to offset this massive negative.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 13, 2004 9:27 AM