Edwards Back of Criticism After Tagging His Rivals

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- At a key moment during a labor-sponsored debate in August, John Edwards laid down a marker against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"The one thing you can count on is you will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine saying I am the candidate that big, corporate America is betting on," he said, an unmistakable reference to a cover story about Clinton with the headline "Business Loves Hillary! (Who Knew?)"

On his current bus tour of Iowa, with the caucuses only three weeks away, Edwards rarely mentions his rivals. His campaign believes he hardly needs to because he spent months branding them -- Clinton as the corporate Democrat, Barack Obama as the callow compromiser who would negotiate with special interests.

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