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Web Site Leaks Edwards' Presidential Plans

Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday after his campaign Web site was launched a day early.

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WASHINGTON — Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday.
The former North Carolina senator plans to formally announce his candidacy Thursday from New Orleans' 9th Ward, which was hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. (Watch Edwards' announcement live on WRAL.com beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday.)

But his campaign got a little ahead of itself Wednesday and announced his intentions online.

"Better a day earlier than a day late," said Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards' adviser.

On the eve of the formal launch of his candidacy, Edwards visited the site of his planned announcement Wednesday for a photo opportunity. He did yard work at the home of Orelia Tyler, 54, whose house was completely gutted by Hurricane Katrina and is close to being rebuilt.

Edwards' impromptu announcement was made in the wake of former President Gerald Ford's death and after his campaign accidentally launched his campaign Web site a day early, then shut it back down.

The campaign Web site's logo is "John Edwards 08" and its slogan is "Tomorrow begins today."

"This campaign is about changing America," the Web site read, listing five priorities that fit neatly with Edwards' message of economic equality: "Providing universal health care for all Americans," "Rebuilding America's middle class and eliminating poverty," and "Creating tax fairness by rewarding work, not just wealth."

Political observer David McClennan told WRAL the online slip-up has made the campaign appear unprofessional.

“It comes across as a little disrespectful,” McClennan said. “This is a day to honor an ex-president, not to announce the future run for the presidency. So, it's a big mistake, not one that John Edwards needs.”

McClennan said Edwards can ill afford such missteps. He will have to raise a lot of money for this presidential run.
"Hillary Clinton is out there with tens of millions of dollars, and John Edwards has a couple hundred thousand,” McClennan said.

Edwards' campaign chairman in 2004, Ed Turlington, told WRAL that he disagrees with that assessment. Turlington said the release shows the staffers are aggressive and ready to get started.

Edwards, 53, issued a statement on former President Ford's death, saying he was deeply saddened by the news and calling Ford a "true leader."

"He called on us to never lose faith that we can change America," Edwards said.

Taking turns with about 30 young people shoveling loads of dirt in Tyler's backyard, Edwards declined to discuss the campaign, focusing instead on the slow recovery in New Orleans, where whole neighborhoods remain a wasteland.

"Anyone who's not concerned with the rate of recovery is not paying attention," said Edwards. He said finger-pointing is part of the problem, adding that the student volunteers he worked with provided an example of what can be accomplished through cooperation.

Edwards arrived promptly at 1:30 p.m., clad in jeans and a khaki work shirt. His aides kept more than two-dozen reporters and photographers at bay as he and the students prepared Tyler's yard for landscaping.

Tyler is still living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer in her yard.

"I feel like a child with Santa Claus," Tyler said before Edwards arrived.

The son of a textile mill worker, Edwards has been on a fast track most of his life despite his up-by-the-bootstraps roots.

A standout law student who became a stunningly successful trial lawyer, Edwards vaulted from nowhere politically into the U.S. Senate and then onto the 2004 Democratic presidential ticket - all in less than six years.

In 1998, in his first bid for public office, Edwards defeated incumbent Sen. Lauch Faircloth, R-North Carolina, a leading advocate for impeachment of President Clinton.

Edwards began building support for his first presidential bid shortly after arriving in the Senate. He quickly made a name for himself in Congress, using his legal background to help Democratic colleagues navigate the impeachment hearings.

Edwards launched a bid for the Democratic nomination in 2003 and quickly caught the eye of Democratic strategists. Although he won only the South Carolina primary, his skills on the trail, his cheerful demeanor, and his message of "two Americas" - one composed of the wealthy and privileged, and the other of the hardworking common man - excited voters, especially independents and moderate-leaning Democrats.

Edwards' handsome, youthful appearance also gave him a measure of star quality.

Those were among the qualities that led Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 standard bearer, to select Edwards as his running mate. It was a stunning success for someone who had majored in textile management as an undergraduate as a kind of insurance policy in case a law career didn't pan out.

Even though he is polling well in the early caucus states like Iowa, Edwards is considered an underdog in the burgeoning race for the Democratic nomination.

“Hillary Clinton and perhaps Barack Obama have become such big names right now, so he's got to combat that star quality they've got with his own message production,” McClennan said.

Turlington said he believes Edwards is in a better position to succeed this time around.

“He spent the last two years traveling the world, working on issues he cares about, like economics for working people, college for everyone,” Turlington said.

McClennan said that to that end, Edwards has a compelling message to spread if he can secure enough money and attention.

“He's talking about what people bring home,” McClennan said. “He's talking about how much it cost to get health-care insurance, how much it cost to go to college, the things that people can identify with.”Republicans have sought to cast Edwards as a money-chasing trial lawyer. It is an image that Edwards has tried to counter by arguing that he represented ordinary people wronged by big corporations.

"I spent most of my adult life representing kids and families against very powerful opponents, usually big insurance companies," he liked to say. "And my job was to give them a fair shake, to give them a fair chance."

McClennan said that during this campaign, Edwards will have more name recognition within the Democratic Party, which should help his fundraising.

Edwards' decision to announce his candidacy in New Orleans is also a positive move, said McClennan. He said it will position Edwards as a national candidate for president, rather than a North Carolina candidate.

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