John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, launched a campaign for the presidency in Thursday, and outlined a platform focused on social justice and poverty issues. To drive home his point, Edwards opened his campaign among the debris and wreckage of New Orleans lower Ninth Ward, which devastated in Hurricane Katrina and remains largely in disrepair. I m announcing here because no place better demonstrates the two Americas I ve talked about for a long time, the former North Carolina senator said in an e-mail to supporters. Edwards has long campaigned for greater financial equality in America. He opened an anti-poverty center in North Carolina and talked frequently during his 2004 run with Senator John Kerry of the economic gap between the two Americas one for the rich and another for the poor. Edwards has proposed a series of work, housing and school measures aimed at lifting millions of Americans out of poverty in the next 10 years, and called for a goal of ending poverty within 30 years. His stated campaign agenda calls for providing moral leadership in the world, starting with Iraq where we should begin drawing down troops, not escalating the war, leading the fight against global warming, breaking the U.S. addiction to oil and ending the shame of poverty. Edwards is the third candidate to formally announce his bid for the Democratic nomination, but Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois remain frontrunners for the Democrats. Neither has formally announced a run yet, though Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich, both considered long-shots, have said they will run. After his appearance in New Orleans, Edwards will fly to the crucial state of Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest in January 2008, and then visit New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina for other campaign events. Edwards chances in the race are unclear. He is often described as charismatic, but may also be helped by his Southern roots. The last three Democratic presidents Lyndon Johnson of Texas, Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Bill Clinton of Arkansas were from the South.
