GREENSBORO, N.C. — Just 24 hours after his showdown with Vice President Dick Cheney, Senator John Edwards rallied a home state crowd in Greensboro Wednesday night.

Edwards' "One America" campaign played to a rousing crowd on the campus of North Carolina A&T University.

The North Carolina senator worked the crowd with words, laying out his and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry's domestic agenda.

Edwards touched on some of the points he made in Tuesday's debate -- national security, reducing health care costs and working for the middle class.

"The place to start doing that is with jobs, and in North Carolina, we know that quite well," Edwards said.

During Tuesday night's debate, it was not Edward's future, but his past that came into question. The vice president even referred to a hometown newspaper calling Edwards, "Senator Gone."

"It's a lie. It's a distortion of the truth. Here the vice president is again not telling the truth," Edwards said.

Edwards has his work cut out for him in North Carolina.

A recent

WRAL Mason-Dixon Poll

shows the Kerry/Edwards campaign trails the Bush/Cheney ticket by 9 points.

"I think it's close. It's getting tight. I think we'll compete very well in North Carolina," Edwards said.

Both Edwards and Cheney began their day campaigning in Florida. Supporters cheered in Tallahassee as Cheney sharply challenged Kerry and whether he is fit to serve as commander in chief.