Courtesy of <a href="http://www.aetv.com/the-governors-wife/pictures/trina-and-edwins-family/edwin-edwards">A&E</a>
He’s back. On Wednesday, less than three years after being released from federal prison, Louisiana Democrat Edwin Edwards told Bloomberg‘s Al Hunt he intends to run for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Cassidy, who is running for Senate. That roar you heard was the sound of political reporters packing their suitcases for extended stays in Baton Rouge. Other than the corruption charges that put him in the slammer, Edwards’ four terms in the governor’s mansion were defined by dramatic populist politics and brash public statements that drew constant comparisons to former Louisiana governor and senator Huey Long.
Prison hasn’t seemed to change Edwards. Here are some of his best (or worst) hits:
- On his 1983 opponent, then Republican Gov. David Treen: “He’s so slow, it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes.”
- On whether he fears his phone was being tapped by law enforcement: “No—except by jealous husbands.”
- On his electoral prospects against Treen: “The only way I can lose this election is if I get caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.”
- On similarities between he and his opponent, former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke: “We’re both wizards in the sheets.”
- On his fate: “The Chinese have a saying that if you sit by the river long enough, the dead body of your enemy will come floating down the river. I suppose the feds sat by the river long enough, and here comes my body.”
- On his womanizing, 1991: “Father Time has taken care of all that poppycock.”
- On his sex drive, 2012: “I don’t need Viagra…Viagra needs me. Doesn’t the Times-Picayune know they use my blood to make that stuff?”
- On his new wife, Trina, who is 51 years his junior: “I learned something good to use Republicans for: sleep with them.”
- On whether it is fair to call him a womanizer: “I ride horses when I go to my ranch. That doesn’t make me a cowboy.”
- On Trina (again): “I’m only as old as the woman I feel.”
- On the role of women in his administration: “The motto from here on out is up with skirts and down with pants.”
- On a claim he once slept with six women in one night: “No, it wasn’t that way. [The author] was gone when the last one came in.”
- On kissing babies: “It’s more fun to kiss mothers.”
- On U.S. Attorney John Volz, who was investigating him for corruption: “When my moods are over, and my time has come to pass, I hope they bury me upside down, so Volz can kiss my ass.”
- On the most talented politician he’s ever seen: “Every time I shave and I look in the mirror, I see him.”
- On his future—in 1991: “I don’t have any skeletons in my closet. They’re all out front. My closets have been raided so many times that there’s nothing new, different, bad, or worse that can be said about me.”
If Edwards does run, voters may be faced with a choice between Edwards, the convicted felon with a long, proud history of womanizing, and Tony Perkins, president of the social-conservative Family Research Council. Edwards hasn’t formally filed paperwork yet, though. He told Bloomberg he wants to set up a super-PAC first.
