Edwards Says Bush's Anti-Terror Campaign Is Just Three Little Words

John Edwards has derided the term "war on terror" as meaningless. (Kathy Willens - AP)

After dismissing the phrase "war on terror" as a useless slogan, former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) outlined his plan to fight terrorism yesterday.

He identified six core principles in his terrorism strategy: restructure the military to respond to today's needs; rely on proven methods in intelligence gathering; hold regular meetings with military leaders; create a "Marshall Corps" of 10,000 that could be used to prop up weak or failing countries; invest in equipment; and create a budget process to reflect security programs in all agencies across the federal government.

"Today, as a result of what George Bush has done, we have more terrorists and fewer allies," Edwards said in remarks in New York. He took aim at the anti-terrorism strategies of Republican candidates, saying they are trying to be "George Bush on steroids." Singling out Rudolph W. Giuliani, he said that if the former New York mayor "runs a campaign for the presidency saying, 'I will give you four more years of what this president has done,' he's allowed to do that. He will never be elected president, but he is allowed to do that."

Katie Levinson, a Giuliani spokeswoman, said, "John Edwards's track record of predicting election outcomes speaks for itself."

-- Zachary A. Goldfarb

Giuliani Urges Border Stats

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Rudy Giuliani loves stats. The GOP presidential candidate declared that, if elected, he will fight illegal immigration by keeping detailed statistics on who crosses the borders illegally.

The program, which Giuliani described in a speech to the Police Officers Association of Michigan's annual convention, would be called "BorderStat" and is only the latest data-based initiative he has proposed that is based on the CompStat program he started in New York.

Under CompStat, which stands for Computerized Statistics, the New York Police Department compiled detailed data about crimes, complaints and arrests by precinct each week and then put the information into a citywide database, giving police a chance to analyze crime patterns. On the stump, the former mayor credits that program with the sharp drop in crime in New York under his tenure, although many analysts question whether CompStat had a major impact. Giuliani has proposed a FedStat program to monitor federal agencies, TerrorStat and GapStat, which would seek to reduce the number of government employees by making workers more productive.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

Edwards Adviser's Odd Job

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In other Edwards news, a senior adviser, Joe Trippi, was a political consultant to a Nigerian vice president who was allegedly the intended recipient of a $90,000 bribe from Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who was indicted this week.

According to a filing with the Justice Department, Trippi was paid $20,000 as a consultant to then-Vice President Atiku Abubakar in his failed campaign to become Nigeria's president this spring. According to the newspaper the Hill, Trippi devised a text-messaging campaign for him and his party, the Action Congress.

Eric Schultz, an Edwards spokesman, said: "This has nothing to do with the campaign. Joe worked for him before John Edwards was running for president."

-- Zachary A. Goldfarb