Elizabeth Edwards Wouldn't Be 'Sitting in Cabinet Meetings'

April 2, 2007 — -- "Nightline" co-anchor Cynthia McFadden traveled to the Edwards home in North Carolina to talk exclusively with Elizabeth and Cate Edwards, wife and daughter of 2008 presidential contender John Edwards, for their first interview together since Elizabeth announced that her cancer had returned.

Watch the full interview tonight on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. EDT

Here are a few exchanges with Elizabeth and Cate Edwards from the conversation.

McFadden: So the plan is to take them on the road.

E. Edwards: The plan is to take them on the road. I think, too, they'll see their parents as doing one of two things. Here's adversity, and here's how you react. Either you meet it and say, "I'm going to fight for the things I care about," or you say that adversity wins. So this is also a teaching moment for our children.

McFadden: How did you find out, Cate, that your mother's cancer was back?

Cate Edwards: She said, "Well, they found something on my rib, but there's so many different things it could be," and I said, "Put Dad on the phone." And so I talked to Dad and he really told me. He told me the truth about what it probably was.

McFadden: Cate, what scares you the most?

C. Edwards: I think for me the scariest thing is thinking about little Claire and Jack and I want them to have their mom, you know, this mom, the same way I did. What scares me the most that they're deprived of that at some point sooner then they should be.

Cynthia McFadden: Rudy Giuliani said in the last few days that, if elected, his wife would be welcome to sit in on the Cabinet meetings. Would you see a role like that for yourself?

Elizabeth Edwards: I would not. I mean, what I am is a sounding board for John and if I have … a separate idea, I don't go to John and say, "I think on education." I go to John's policy person and say, "Is this possible?"

Having grown up in a military family, I'm a true believer in the chain of command, and I don't get to go -- like any citizen, I don't get to go straight to the president and say, "This is what I think" about something.

I'm a sounding board for him. He'll ask me whether something rings true in a speech that he's thinking about giving or asks for my feedback. But, honestly, when I have something separate to say, I go through the chain to do it.

McFadden: So were your husband elected president, we shouldn't expect that you would be attending Cabinet meetings or --

E. Edwards: No, I wouldn't be attending cabinet meetings. Honestly, I have a lot that -- You know, I think you get a great big megaphone and you get to talk about things you care about, and I hope I'd be busy doing that and mothering my adorable children as opposed to sitting in Cabinet meetings.

McFadden: Rush Limbaugh says, "What is their religion? I don't doubt they're religious people, but we talked about this. Political people are different than you and I and, you know, most people, when told a family member's been diagnosed with the kind of cancer Elizabeth Edwards has, they turn to God. The Edwards turned to the campaign. Their religion is politics and the quest for the White House."