Edwards begins bus tour

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. --- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards began a four-day tour through his native South Carolina on Friday, pushing his populist message and warning cheering supporters that the future of the middle class is at stake in this election.

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Associated Press

Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., addresses an audience during an event in Summerville, S.C.

"What this race is about and what this election is about is standing up and fighting for the middle class," he told about 100 people gathered at a hotel near the coast in this early primary state.

"The question is will we have a president of the United States who first understands what's happening in South Carolina and across the United States of America?" he said.

Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, won here in 2004 and is hoping to rebound in South Carolina's Jan. 26 primary after a second-place finish in Iowa and a third-place finish this week in New Hampshire.

Mr. Edwards began running a new television ad this week in South Carolina in which he says he's not running for president because of advice of political consultants or what he's read in books. He says he's running because mill workers are just as important as the mill owners.

Mr. Edwards warned at the town hall meeting that, according to some estimates, the nation could lose 30 million jobs in the next decade.

"It's not academic and it's not philosophical," he said. "It's very, very personal."