Democrat Edwards Stresses Small-Town Roots [Reuters]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4070642

Democrat Edwards Stresses Small-Town Roots
Sun January 4, 2004 06:44 PM ET
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Edwards hopes to make a fresh face, small-town Southern roots, a compelling personal history and a relentless focus on the needs of the working class his ticket to the White House in 2004.
The first-term senator from North Carolina, who entered the presidential race a year ago as "a champion for regular people," has taken the most populist approach of the nine Democrats vying for the right to face President Bush in November.
On the campaign trail, the millionaire trial lawyer stresses his small-town background and proposals he says are aimed at breaking down economic barriers for the middle class and freeing Washington from the grip of special interests.
"Working people have been shut out by this president because he values only one thing: wealth," Edwards said in September, when he formally launched his campaign in the shadow of the textile mill, now closed, where his father worked for three decades in the town of Robbins, North Carolina.

As the race for the Democratic nomination grows more bitter, with many of his rivals attacking front-runner Howard Dean, Edwards has stressed a more positive approach.
In a subtle dig at Dean, whose rise has been fueled by his blunt denunciations of Bush, the Iraq war and Democratic Party leaders, Edwards says Democrats will lose in November "if all we are is divisive and angry."
He peppers his speeches with tales of his childhood and promises to practice "a different kind of politics" based on values he learned growing up in Robbins, where he moved at age 12 after an early childhood in neighboring South Carolina.
"I think the key is to see things through the eyes of regular Americans," Edwards said early last year in an interview with Reuters. "That's a perspective that people are hungry for."
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