You slaved away in North Carolina's emergency operations center during the gut-grinding run-up to Hurricane Isabel for heaven knows how many hours. Then the storm ripped into the Outer Banks and blasted a swath of havoc through the eastern counties.

You helped gauge the damage, coordinate rescues, get relief supplies rolling. You're tired, stressed-out, hungry. What's this -- someone handing out doughnuts? Must be an angel of mercy!

The angel distributing the Krispy Kremes at the operations center in Raleigh the day after Isabel's rampage happened to be John Edwards, the senator who's on a quest to become the first president Tar Heels could claim since Andrew Johnson.

It was a perfectly fine gesture for Edwards to come by for a briefing on the state's hurricane response and to bring along some edible treats.

Uh, fine so far as it went. Because for all the senator's attentiveness to the Raleigh end of the disaster response effort and his generosity with the doughnuts, the hurricane wound up for him as a public relations fiasco -- or at the least as a golden opportunity flubbed.

It is a simple fact of political life that disasters give officeholders a chance to shine. A senator, congressman, governor or mayor who can go before the cameras and articulate what his constituents are up against, who can cut through the bureaucracy to obtain assistance, who can move fast and decisively and confidently, stands to score plenty of brownie points.

But what people who've had their lives knocked for a loop especially appreciate is a visit from someone who's in a position to take up their cause. It's sort of the civic equivalent of taking a casserole to a bereaved family in the neighborhood . And it assures the afflicted that the VIP has gauged their misery with his or her own eyes, the better to advocate for them with the utility and insurance companies, the relief agencies, the lawmakers who will decide on emergency funding.

For their pains, the politicians who take the time to visit the scene and perform the ritual of surveying the damage are pretty much guaranteed a spate of flattering attention. So there's an incentive to get on that helicopter.

Governor Easley was out there, post-Isabel, as was Sen. Elizabeth Dole, among others. As a politician you would have needed a pretty good excuse not to have shown up in a few places such as Sea Level, Harlowe, Oriental, Swan Quarter, Edenton or Ahoskie. Battered Hatteras Island and its new inlet would have been worth an inspection trip. Or, you could have followed the trail blazed by The N&O's Martha Quillin and viewed the destruction to houses and farms along N.C. 32 in Chowan and Gates counties.

John Edwards? He had to wash his hair. No, sorry, that was somebody else. What Edwards had to do, or so he and his fast-track advisors must have thought, was to get on out to California as soon as he completed his Raleigh drop-by. An appearance with beleaguered California Gov. Gray Davis was deemed to be unskippable. And the Golden State's herd of campaign contributors awaited milking.

If we're being a little hard on Edwards, perhaps it's a sign of how his dual role as senator and presidential candidate has come to leave a bit of a sour taste for some. Not that a bright, attractive, energetic U.S. senator shouldn't go on and dive into the presidential fray if the spirit moves him.

But it seems like just a few months ago that Edwards was catapulted into office after his very first campaign for anything, with no previous governmental experience at all. His victory in 1998 represented quite a leap of faith on the part of North Carolina voters, quite a commitment. Now there's a disappointment that he's decided so soon that being a senator isn't what he wants to do after all.

That disappointment could have been allayed if Edwards had been more deft in pulling the senatorial plug. But when he announced, in a letter to state Democratic Party Chair Barbara Allen, that he would not seek a second term, the only nod to his ongoing Senate responsibilities came when he declared what an honor it is to serve. He since has offered assurances that his staff is on top of things, including hurricane aid, but sustaining a bond of service to the people who elected him hardly seems to have been the first thing on his mind.

Does this amount to a signal that Edwards might resign? That would seem to be a long shot. Among other reasons, he presumably would be a candidate at least for the second spot on the Democratic ticket until next summer, and Senate incumbency would help his chances. But what also would help would be solid popularity among his home state's voters, the better to nudge North Carolina toward the Democratic win column.

We all can hope that no more disasters put Edwards to the test before then -- but if something dire happens, maybe he'll become the first politician to arrive, in a show of solidarity with folks who are hurting. Doughnuts? How about words of comfort: "I know you've been through something terrible, and I'll make sure you get help. Count on it."

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