Obama, Edwards Shift Focus to US Poverty

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards speaks during a television interview held before he met with area residents, organizers and volunteers of the Remote Area Medical (RAM) Expedition at the Wise County Fairgrounds, Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in Wise, Va. (AP Photo/Wade Payne) (Wade Payne - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday challenged John Edwards' claim as the anti-poverty candidate and reminded voters of his experience working with the inner-city poor. Edwards bemoaned the plight of the downtrodden in rural Appalachia.

The rivals hit on strikingly familiar themes in competing speeches on an issue that usually does not get much attention in modern presidential politics. Democrats, however, have pushed it to the forefront.

Obama spoke in the District of Columbia's Anacostia neighborhood. Edwards wrapped up an eight-state poverty tour in Wise, Va., and Prestonburg, Ky. Both candidates invoked a Democratic icon, Robert F. Kennedy, who four decades ago drew attention to the poor.

Speaking at the Floyd County courthouse, where Kennedy ended his poverty tour in 1968, Edwards said he wants "America to remember what he did decades ago. I want you to join us to end the work Bobby Kennedy started."

Obama alluded to Kennedy's tour and repeated a question that Kennedy uttered throughout his address: "How can a country like this allow it?"

The first-term Illinois senator said he has had a long-standing interest in helping the poor, dating to his first job after college as a community organizer in Chicago. The remark was a veiled jab at Edwards.

"This kind of poverty is not an issue I just discovered for the purposes of a campaign. It's the cause that led me to a life of public service almost 25 years ago," Obama said.

Edwards' spokesman, Eric Schultz, responded by saying, "This is another example of Edwards leading on the issues and other candidates following."

Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, said his interest in poverty was not born out of politics. He said his background was so humble that his father had to borrow $50 to bring him home from the hospital. Although Edwards became a successful trial lawyer, he continued to fight for the less fortunate in his legal career, as a U.S. senator and elsewhere.

"Poverty is the cause of my life," he said in his prepared remarks. "I worked on it before I got into politics."

Obama's first job was working for a coalition of churches on Chicago's South Side, seeking to help rescue a troubled neighborhood. He has been a state legislator and has taught at a law school.

Before entering politics, Edwards was on the board of Urban Ministries, a group that helped the poor in the Raleigh, N.C., area. He also established the Wade Edwards Learning Lab in honor of his late son to help disadvantaged kids with their schoolwork.