Editorial referred to by Vice Presdient Cheney during the Vice Presidential debate on October 5, 2004. This editorial appeared in our June 25, 2003 edition.

During his 30 years in Washington, Jesse Helms was known as Senator No. Four and a half years into his first term, John Edwards is becoming known as Senator Gone.

That's because Edwards, North Carolina's senior senator, has developed a habit of missing floor votes while on the campaign trail in pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination. He missed every vote last week, and since the beginning of June, he has cast 14 votes while missing 16.

The votes Edwards failed to show up for included one on a bill to block a study of oil and gas reserves off coastal states, including North Carolina, and another to speed up the availability of generic drugs to consumers. Missing the vote on the latter provision exposes Edwards to

accusations of hypocrisy - which Republicans are predictably leveling - because he has championed the bill and criticized President Bush for not doing enough to enact it into law.

Members of the senator's staff point out that Edwards' attendance record this year has been better than the other three Democratic senators who are campaigning for president - Joe Lieberman, Richard Gephardt and Bob Graham. And the aides also say none of the votes Edwards missed was close, so his presence on the floor would not have changed the outcome.

That may be true, but it's beside the point. North Carolinians elected Edwards senator in 1998 to be just that, a senator - you know, one of those guys who go to committee meetings, debate legislation of the floor and vote on that legislation.

We're not being politically naive here. Campaigning for president requires candidates to barnstorm nationwide in search of votes and money. Edwards didn't make these rules. He just has to play by them - up to a point. For Edwards - along with Lieberman, Gephardt and Graham - running for the White House should be primarily a night-and-weekend affair when Congress is in session. The four could even be forgiven for occasionally missing a vote on a routine, innocuous bill.

His fellow Tar Heels voted for Edwards in 1998. It's not too much to expect him to be on the Senate floor to vote for them.

Access for Sale

State House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan, R-Moore, has formed something called the Speaker's Round Table. If you want to be a member, all it takes is a $4,000 contribution to Morgan's campaign fund.

And to offer assurances that everything is on the up and up, Morgan ally Rep. Harold Brubaker says in a letter inviting people to join the Round Table that members won't get special treatment by the co-speaker or easier access to him.

Yeah, right.

So what do contributors get for their four grand if not favors or access? According to Brubaker's letter, they will get seats at "select roundtable discussions with Speaker Morgan and other political leaders." Prospective member businesses are also asked to contribute to a July 12

"special tribute" to Morgan in Pinehurst. The tribute will include "a small birthday celebration with his closest friends and supporters."

Brubaker's assurances not withstanding, the wording of his letter strongly implies that givers of big money will get special access to, and influence with, one of the most powerful government officials in North Carolina. Appearances count in politics, and this appears to be garden-variety influence peddling.

Sadly, the Speaker's Round Table is perfectly legal under North Carolina law. Even more sadly, it's politics-as-usual. Both Republicans and Democrats engage in it. Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, for example, has established for himself a cash cow similar to Morgan's. Former Democratic House Speaker Dan Blue had the Speaker's Business Council, which Blue shut down after legislators and others complained that it amounted to paying for access.