From John Edwards' speech yesterday:

I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina. My father worked in a mill all his life, and I will never forget the men and women who worked with him. They had lint in their hair and grease on their faces.

Gephardt's father was apparently a milk-truck driver, or something. Obama's father was a goat-herder.

Candidates like to talk about their humble pasts, and last night during their convention converage, The Daily Show had a hilarious riff on this. They don't post transcripts, so I'm paraphrasing from memory:

Stephen Colbert: John, I can relate to these politicians with humble upbringings because my father was a turd miner.

John Stewart: A turd miner?

Stephen Colbert: That's right, John. Every morning he went down into the hole for 12-14 hours, just so I could have a better future.

John Stewart: Really?

Stephen Colbert: No...actually, they wanted me to become a turd miner too. And my grandfather was a goat-ball licker.

John Stewart: Um...how is that even a job?

Stephen Colbert: In the old days, John, it was important to keep the goats happy.

John Stewart: Okay.

Stephen Colbert: And now I can proudly say that I've left those hicks behind, while continuing to bring them up to bolster my own self image.

Or something like that. Hell, I thought it was funny.