Sen. John Edwards charged $55,000 to deliver this speech to UC Davis students about poverty on Jan. 9 2006. Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, who introduces Senator Edwards says that after the 2004 election the Senator had many options “but what he chose to do next says a great deal about who he is and what motivates him in public life. He had many choices. He could have returned to his legal practice. He could have written a book. He could have started a cable TV talk show. He could have found any number of ways to cash in on that celebrity status, perhaps as a lobbyist or a consultant. No doubt he would have been successful no matter what his choice, but instead he went back to his roots. He returned to the University of North Carolina law school and began work as the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity developing ideas on how to get people of poverty.”