John Edwards road-tests poverty theme

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On his eight-state tour, the Democratic presidential candidate hopes to find that such talk is not, in fact, a politically losing idea.

By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer
July 13, 2007

==Beginning Sunday night in New Orleans and ending Wednesday in Appalachian Kentucky, the former North Carolina senator will reinvigorate an old campaign theme and test an even older notion: that talking about poor people is a politically losing proposition.

The poverty rate in America has stayed fairly constant since the late 1960s. But polls show that the issue of poverty and homelessness consistently ranks low among voters' priorities. The discussion has become so fraught with moral and racial overtones that presidential contenders often find it best to say little or nothing.

But Edwards insists that "people do care" about those less fortunate and believe government has a role, even a responsibility, to help those who cannot help themselves. They just have to be asked.

"I think the best measure is not a poll," the Democrat said Thursday, "but the way Americans responded when a hurricane hit New Orleans. They made contributions. They volunteered."==

Read the rest at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-edwards13jul13,1,3772662.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

To learn about Edwards' plan to eradicate poverty in three decades and eliminate it by one third in 10 years see http://johnedwards.com/issues/poverty/