The "Two Americas" of John Edwards: We Know Which One He Lives In

By Linda Orlando

After losing his bid for the Vice Presidency in 2004, John Edwards was asked to serve as the Director of the Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his first campaign and again now in his second run for the White House, Edwards has made the need to alleviate poverty in the United States a central theme of his platform, consistently opining earnestly about how there are "two Americas," one for the wealthy and one for the poor.

Several reports made public this week make it painfully clear exactly which of those two Americas John Edwards lives in.

According to Federal Election Commission reports, The Edwards campaign paid $400 apiece for two haircuts done by celebrity stylist Joseph Torrenueva of Beverly Hills, CA. Torrenueva, in an interview with the Associated Press, confirmed that he and Edwards have been friends for a long time. "I do cut his hair and I have cut it for quite a while," Torrenueva said. When shown a picture of Edwards that was published Tuesday in The Los Angeles Times, Torrenueva said, "That’s my cut."

The reason for the exorbitant price tag? Torrenueva was brought to Edwards for the haircuts, rather than the candidate taking the time to go out to Beverly Hills to have his locks manicured at Torrenueva’s salon a block off Rodeo Drive. "I go to him whenever convenient," Torrenueva said.

FEC records show that Edwards paid $248 to Designworks, a trendy salon and spa in Dubuque, Iowa. According to their website, the spa offers various beauty services such as massages, facials, body polishes, self tanning devices, and Caribbean therapy body wraps. The campaign also paid $225 to Pink Sapphire, a New Hampshire beauty salon that caters mostly to women, for having his makeup done for television cameras. "He’s fantastic," co-owner Ariana Franggos told reporters. "Great personality, very, very nice, down to earth." She added that makeup for television has to be heavier than usual in order to hold up under the lights. She said that although she has met Elizabeth Edwards, she has never done her makeup.

Franggos said that she often does makeup for local television personalities in New Hampshire and she was referred to Edwards by one of her regular clients. "This poor guy, I’m telling you, I promise he’s not in here getting facials and cucumber peels on his eyes or anything," she said.

Edwards, 53, recently built a $5.3 million house on 102 acres of land near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The house is 28,000 square feet and includes an indoor pool, indoor basketball court, and a handball court. And he gets $400 haircuts.

Poor guy, indeed.