Edwards Takes Spotlight, Pledges to Fight Poverty

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards, getting the 2008 campaign cycle off to an early start, said Saturday that poverty was “one of the great moral issues of our time” and pledged to help fight it.

“It may seem like an impossible task to end poverty, but that’s what skeptics have always said about the great struggles we have faced,” he said. “If we can put a man on the moon, cure polio and put a library on a little chip, then we can end poverty.”

The setting of the speech, a New Hampshire Democratic Party fundraising dinner, was as notable as its content. A visit to New Hampshire, traditionally the site of the leadoff presidential primary, is often the first public sign that a politician is considering a White House bid.

Edwards, who left the Senate last month, said in an interview that he had not decided whether to run. His focus is helping his wife, Elizabeth, recover from breast cancer, he said.

In his speech, Edwards said he would open an antipoverty center in North Carolina.

Edwards took issue with critics of his party: “Don’t tell me Democrats don’t stand for anything. We do. We stand for work and opportunity. We know when something is right. And we know when something’s wrong.

“It is wrong when our neighbors work full time and still live in poverty.”