Edwards launches eight-day bus tour

By Times staff | Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Democrat John Edwards launched an eight-day bus tour of the state Monday, urging his supporters to take back the country.

Outside a freshly painted campaign bus dubbed the “Main Street Express,” Edwards introduced a new campaign stump speech and slogan as the campaign rolls into its final weeks.

The bus tour is focused on Edwards’ theme of ending the influence of special interests in Washington and giving the government back to the people. Edwards told a crowd in Des Moines every time people stand up for those in poverty, those without health care and for American workers, America is rising.

“That’s what this election is about. We can see it right now — America rising. It’s happening right in front of us, right in front of us, starting right here in Iowa,” Edwards said.

Edwards argued that President Bush has destroyed the trust relationship with the American people and the rest of the world. He urged Iowa caucus-goers to support someone who is honest and sincere and can restore that trust.

“You’re going to be in a place to evaluate that most of America is not,” Edwards said. “And in so many ways, you are the guardians of what kind of human being we’ll have as the next president of the United States.”

Edwards mocked the dust-up between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s campaign over when Obama decided he wanted to run for president.

When Obama said he hadn’t planned for years to seek the job, the Clinton campaign pulled out testimony from Obama’s kindergarten teacher who remembered he had written an essay about wanting to be president.

Edwards made his own confession:

“When I was in kindergarten, I wanted to either be a cowboy or Superman,” Edwards said.