John Edwards makes it official

The first major Democratic '08 contender throws his hat in the ring from the Crescent City's devastated Ninth Ward.

By Cynthia Joyce

Read more: George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Politics, Cynthia Joyce, News, John Edwards, Barack Obama, 2008 election

AP/Charles Dharapak

Former Sen. John Edwards talks to press in the backyard of a house affected by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans Dec. 28, 2006.

Dec. 29, 2006 | Sixteen months after Hurricane Katrina, many of the street signs are still down in the hard-hit Ninth Ward of New Orleans, but it wasn't hard to find former Sen. John Edwards there on Thursday morning. The satellite dish of the CNN Gulf Coast Bureau truck was a beacon for reporters trying to pick Orelia Tyler's house out of all the other gutted houses with FEMA trailers parked outside.

So was the mere presence of a crowd. In this nearly deserted swath of the city, where few locals have returned and screen doors dangle from abandoned houses, a gathering of more than three people is pretty conspicuous. At least 40 people, mostly members of the media, had converged on the house on Stemway Drive to hear the fresh-faced ex-trial lawyer from North Carolina announce his bid for the Democratic nomination for president. Outgoing Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich are already on the campaign trail, but with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama not expected to signal their intentions until early next year, Edwards is the first high-profile Democrat to make it official.

"It's a symbol of two Americas," said Edwards, explaining why he'd chosen the Ninth Ward as the backdrop for his announcement. "Something I feel very personally." Echoing the same themes of poverty and inequality he introduced as a 2004 presidential candidate on the eve of the Iowa caucuses, Edwards, dressed in blue jeans and a work shirt, proposed an extreme makeover for the country, one that would start with "grass-roots, ground-up efforts," like those of the often faith-based volunteer groups he has witnessed in New Orleans.

In addition to reiterating his well-established antipoverty agenda, Edwards laid out a progressive platform that addresses issues such as global warming, the removal of troops from Iraq, universal health coverage and "getting America off its oil addiction." Edwards plans to present that platform over the next three days in six states, including Iowa, which he almost carried in 2004 and where early polls consistently show him running strongly. (He got an unexpectedly early start on his campaign swing on Wednesday, when his official campaign Web site briefly went live ahead of schedule.)

Edwards has been twitted on the right for feeling the pain of one America while living in the other. A recent New York Post article said his North Carolina estate "makes the famed Kennedy compound look like a seaside cottage." But Edwards, who had spent Wednesday afternoon shoveling dirt in the same yard with volunteers from his "One Corps" group, was pursuing an antipoverty agenda before he was a vice presidential candidate in 2004, and long before Katrina.

His message Thursday also emphasized self-reliance, both for individuals and for the country as a whole. "I think that's why I'm in New Orleans, to show what's possible," he said. "This is an example of what all of us can do. Instead of sitting at home and complaining, we take action -- not just after the election. We take action now."

Even in New Orleans, where a sort of poverty pornography has taken hold over the last year and a half -- everyone from Brad Pitt to Juvenile has paraded through to pimp their pet projects -- "people feel forgotten," Edwards said. He urged Americans to "get their hands dirty."

The bustle of rebuilding, so palpable in other parts of the city, is hardly evident in the Ninth Ward. One particularly notable indication of the stalled recovery is the nearly total absence of advertising, save for a few signs offering the services of demolition crews and trial attorneys. The lack of organized activity of any kind is so startling that the 20 or so kids standing behind the senator as he made his announcement, each clad in bright blue "One Corps: John Edwards" T-shirts, actually inspired as much of a sense of order as did the National Guardsmen still on duty in the area.

"We've seen what happens when we wait to see what the government is going to do for us," Edwards said. "It's not like we don't know what needs to be done -- this isn't rocket science. We can't wait for someone else to do something for us. There's just too much at stake."

Making a seamless transition from Katrina to Iraq, Edwards added, "We have to show that we have the moral authority to lead -- we can't lead on raw power. We need to set an example. We're not the only ones who saw the photos of New Orleans after Katrina. The whole world saw them. When America doesn't lead, there is no stability. We need to maintain our power -- but we also have a responsibility to show our "better angels."

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