Edwards Again Says He Was Wrong to Vote for War

Edwards's apologies have earned him respect in some quarters of the antiwar movement.

Tim Carpenter, national director of Progressive Democrats of America, said in a recent interview that he believes many in that camp "have really reacted to some very strong statements [by Edwards] on the war. What he has shown is a capacity to grow and to learn."

Darcy Scott Martin, who runs the antiwar True Majority Action PAC, said yesterday that she can sense candidates are "searching for a level of credibility" on the war.

"It's pretty clear," she said, "that antiwar people don't really have a candidate yet. And he's trying to capture those people."

One candidate who will not have to develop a strategy to justify early backing of the Iraq war is Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who expressed strong opposition while still a state senator in Illinois. Russert asked Edwards whether Democratic voters would say, "On the big issue of the war, Obama was right, Edwards was wrong."

"I was wrong," Edwards replied, but he added that voters should also consider "who has the depth, the maturity, the judgment to be president of the United States."

During the interview, Edwards also gave new details of his plan for universal health care, which he said would require new taxes.

He said he would propose spending $90 billion to $120 billion a year to expand Medicaid, provide subsidies for people who lack coverage, ask employers to take on additional coverage needs and create what he called "health markets" around the country to create some efficiencies.

"Yes, we will have to raise taxes," he said. That would start, he added, by repealing the tax cuts introduced by Bush during his first term.