Edwards' poverty tour ends
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 4:25 PM by Mark Murray
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Democrats
From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum and Jenny Anzelmo
On the third and last day of his "Road to One America Tour," Edwards made stops in Wise, VA, Whitesburg, KY, and Prestonburg, KY -- the last two stops identical to the end of Bobby Kennedy's poverty tour 40 years ago. Throughout the three days, Edwards visited both rural towns and urban cities and held many more small group gatherings -- as opposed to large rallies.
In both Wise and Whitesburg, the setting was casual. In Wise, people sat on picnic benches discussing the health-care issues they face. At the end of his scheduled time, Edwards continued talking with the community, even as staffers were encouraging him to get going to Whitesburg. Once in Kentucky, Edwards engaged students in a youth forum, discussing such diverse topics from coal miners' rights and Darfur, to green-collar jobs and health care. Seated on the stage in the Appalshop Theater with several high school and college students, he spent more time listening to their personal and community's problems than speaking.
Edwards concluded his poverty tour with a big speech in Prestonburg. The symbolism of his final location was not lost on Edwards. He said people have been asking him if he believes he should be compared to Bobby Kennedy. "And the answer to that is no. I do not deserve to be compared to Bobby Kennedy," Edwards said. "He is a political hero of mine, but the reason I'm here is because I want America to remember what he did decades ago, and I want America to join us, all of us, to end the great work that Bobby Kennedy started."
The presidential hopeful rallied the crowds in Prestonburg, making the issue personal by discussing his father's work in the textile mills. And he called for an end to poverty. "Never again will anybody work full time and still live in poverty. We reject it. We can do something about this."
Edwards also delivered some lines at President Bush's expense. "I want to invite George Bush to come here," he said. Laughter shortly gave way to boos and cat calls that seemed to be aimed at Bush. Edwards continued, "Because I want President Bush to see the other America, and the struggles that people who are faced with, good people, strong people, courageous people, people who are proud. And I want him to understand what's happening out here in America."
A 79-year old man, Barkley Sturgill, who was a county prosecutor when Kennedy visited Prestonburg, compared the former leader to the presidential hopeful. "The thing that impressed me about Bobby Kennedy was his fundamental sincerity. He believed in every word he said, talking about an America with civil rights, with jobs, essentially what John Edwards said today," Sturgill said. "[Edwards] spoke with the same sincerity. John Edwards believed what he said today and that's what these people know. They're not fooled by any means about these large gestures about what they are gonna do. They mean what they say about education and poverty."
