Obama to Give Up Money Linked to Donor

Democratic Presidential candidate, Barack Obama, D-Il., speaks before a meeting of the Hampton University Ministers' Conference at the school in Hampton, Va., Tuesday, June 5, 2007. A fresh poll has good news for Obama, but it is different enough from other surveys that analysts say the results should be viewed with some caution: a USA Today/Gallup poll released Tuesday showed the Illinois senator essentially tied with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Obama had 30 percent, Clinton 29 percent _ well within the poll's sampling margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber - AP)

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) _ Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Friday he would enjoy debating the eventual Republican nominee _ if he won his party's nomination.

"The first thing I would say would be ... If you like what's happened in Iraq, you should vote for this guy. They'll give you four more years of it," Edwards said during a stop in New Hampshire. "If you don't like what's happened in Iraq, if you want to see a change, then you should vote for me."

He said Republicans have lost the monopoly on national security.

"Do you think George Bush made you safer? All this chest thumping?" Edwards said. "These guys are going to continue this. We need to be aggressive, but we also need to be smart. We need to not just thump our chest."

Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, was on a two-day campaign swing through the early primary state.

Edwards celebrates his 54th birthday on Sunday, and the party planned has all the North Carolina charm: a pig roast, pie and Dean Smith.

The legendary former University of North Carolina basketball coach said he will attend Edwards' party, calling him "the best person to lead this country."

"John's ideals are ones that are close to my heart and ones that I've fought for all my life," Smith wrote in a letter to Edwards supporters. "I support John Edwards because he has worked on issues that matter _ ones that I really care about _ like poverty and ending the war in Iraq."

Entrance to Edwards' birthday party, being held at the Best Western University Inn in Chapel Hill, will cost $15.

In addition to the party, every person who contributes more than $6.10 (mimicking Edwards' birth date) to the campaign before Sunday will receive a pecan pie recipe from Edwards' mom, Bobbie. A week after Bobbie Edwards proposed the recipe reward, more than 8,400 people have donated more than $200,000 to the campaign, according to an online tally.

Smith has already donated $4,200 _ the maximum _ to Edwards' campaign, according to campaign finance records.

Edwards earned a law degree from UNC Chapel Hill in 1977.

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Associated Press Writers Mike Glover in Johnston, Iowa, and Philip Elliott in Rochester, N.H., contributed to this report.