Edwards 2008 bid to push plight of poor [View All]

Edwards 2008 bid to push plight of poor
By Josh Gerstein -- New York Sun
December 28, 2006
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A former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, is set to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination this morning, emphasizing the plight of the underclass by launching his campaign from a blighted New Orleans neighborhood hard hit in Hurricane Katrina.
By focusing on social justice and the poor, Mr. Edwards, 53, hopes to court Democratic Party activists and pose a challenge from the left to other likely presidential contenders, such as Senator Clinton.
"I don't think there's any question that by talking about labor, the minimum wage, and poverty, his strategy has been to run as the progressive alternative," a Democratic operative and lobbyist, Steven Elmendorf, said in an interview.
Mr. Edwards, who sought the Democratic nomination in 2004 and later became the party's vice presidential nominee, scores well in opinion polls, particularly in the early caucus state of Iowa. However, his hopes of becoming the alternative to Mrs. Clinton have been set back by a relatively new entrant on the political scene, Senator Obama of Illinois, who is also mulling a presidential bid.
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In addition to staking out the poverty issue and boosting his foreign affairs resume with international travel, Mr. Edwards, who was a trial lawyer before being elected to the Senate, has moved aggressively to win the support of labor unions, particularly those for service workers.
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One asset Mr. Edwards has is that many of those who worked closely with him on his losing primary bid in 2004 seemed to enjoy the experience, while some who worked for other candidates grew disillusioned. "People working with him really enjoyed working with him and had great respect for him," Mr. Lehane said.
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