Edwards Tries to Quash Student's Report

By MIKE BAKER
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A University of North Carolina professor said Friday that John Edwards' campaign demanded that he pull a student reporter's television story that focused on the upscale location of the campaign's headquarters.



C.A. "Charlie" Tuggle, an associate professor at the school, said the Edwards campaign contacted the reporter, second-year master's degree student Carla Babb, asking for a video of her report to be removed from the Internet. When that failed, the campaign demanded in three calls to Tuggle that the TV story be killed, he said.

Tuggle said the campaign had complained that the reporter misrepresented the story she planned to do. He also said the Edwards campaign warned that relations with the school could be jeopardized.

The Edwards campaign had no comment on the professor's specific contentions. More generally, spokeswoman Colleen Murray said: "This is silly. We love all reporters, the problem is the feeling isn't always mutual."

The TV story is to air Monday on the program "Carolina Week" in Chapel Hill. It was first posted on YouTube for an MTV contest and drew only a couple of hundred hits during the first days on the site.

The Edwards campaign complained to Tuggle, he said, that the student had not disclosed the angle of the story and had asked for access to do a feature on a student who was interning for the campaign.

In the report, Babb interviews students, one on the campaign, one not. She asks whether it is appropriate for Edwards to base his operations in his affluent hometown of Chapel Hill, home of the university, as opposed to a location that would better reflect his campaign platform of fighting poverty.

After quoting the students, Babb concludes her report by saying, "It's ultimately up to the voters to decide if running a presidential campaign here was a smart move politically. But it's safe to say, in Chapel Hill, opinions are split. "

In an interview Friday, Babb said: "I was completely shocked to get a phone call from the Edwards campaign saying that the story was straight from the Republican Party and that we needed to take it down."

She said she wanted to do a story about student opinions about Edwards' headquarters near campus in Chapel Hill's Southern Village.

Tuggle is the news director of "Carolina Week" and the broadcast professor who advises students for the newscast.

"Was it what the campaign was expecting it to be? No," Tuggle said. "But I don't know that we're obligated as journalists to tell that the focus of a story has changed."

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, graduated with a law degree from the university and helped develop and operate a poverty center there after the 2004 election.

Iowa Service Union Endorses Edwards

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Democrat John Edwards has received the
endorsement of the Iowa State Council of the Service Employees
International Union, and announcements of support from other state
councils were promised to follow Monday, a campaign official said.

"This endorsement reflects Senator Edwards' lifelong commitment
to standing up for working Americans like the people he grew up
with," said the senior campaign official, who requested anonymity
because he was speaking about the endorsement before its official
release.

He told The Associated Press that a "number of other state
councils" of the SEIU will announce their support for the former
North Carolina senator at an event in Iowa City on Monday evening,
but he wouldn't confirm how many.

Edwards was stung last week by the national SEIU when leaders
said it would not endorse a candidate for the primary elections,
letting its members make their decisions on a state-by-state basis.

Edwards had worked hard to win the seal of approval from the
union, which claims to be the fastest growing in North America,
boasting 1.9 million members in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

The 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee has spent
considerable time the past couple of years walking picket lines,
speaking out for workers' rights and seeking labor support.

Cathy Glasson, a registered nurse and president of SEIU Local
199, said Edwards' health care plan was pivotal to earning the
support in Iowa.

"We are uniquely positioned to see and hear the candidates and
members are well informed on the issues important to working
families," she said in a statement. "John Edwards earned our
support by taking a strong stand on health care and because he
offers our members the greatest hope for restoring the American
Dream."

Edwards Response to President Bush

After President Bush made yet another argument for continuing the war in Iraq, John Edwards spoke directly to the American people in a nationwide address on MSNBC.

Baldwin Auctioning Off a Day on Edwards' Campaign

NEW YORK (AP) -- William Baldwin is auctioning a day on the campaign trail with presidential hopeful John Edwards and a private falconry lesson with Robert Kennedy Jr. to raise funds for his mother's foundation.

Baldwin personally lined up the VIP packages -- including the day with Edwards, the former North Carolina senator -- for an online auction to benefit The Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, which his mother established in 1996 after surviving breast cancer. Baldwin and his brother Alec Baldwin sit on the board of the foundation, which provides grants to researchers.

"I was very lucky ... to get a significant number of people on board and committed," Baldwin told The Associated Press in a recent telephone interview. "And I think that sort of created somewhat of an aura, where people were like, `You know, we wanna be in on this."'

Baldwin, who stars on ABC's new show "Dirty Sexy Money," said he hustled friends and family -- in a nice way -- to book the packages, which are up for bid on the Charity Folks Web site through the end of October.

Items also include a walk-on role on NBC's "30 Rock," which stars Alec Baldwin, and backstage passes to concerts by Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow.

There's also a chance to join Miley Cyrus -- Hannah Montana herself -- on tour for a day. "That's gonna go for a fortune," Baldwin said.

Baldwin, whose big screen credits include "Backdraft" and "The Squid and the Whale," said he's excited about "Dirty Sexy Money."

"It feels like a comedy, it feels like a drama, it feels like a soap all rolled into one," he said of the show, which premieres Wednesday night.

Baldwin is hoping for a hit.

"Send out the word," he said. "We want big numbers, so I can do this for a couple years."

Edwards Bold Approach to Counter-Terrorism

Here's CNN's story on Edwards bold approach to counter terrorism. If you wanting to know what Edwards is about, this is a good watch.

Edwards Slams Clinton, 'Establishment Elites'

Watch the story at myfoxwghp.com

WASHINGTON -- John Edwards didn't mention a chief Democratic presidential rival by name, but it seemed clear whom the White House hopeful was targeting in a fiery speech Thursday in New Hampshire.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards campaigns last weekend in Clinton, Iowa.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina, who finds himself lagging significantly behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in most national polls, told New Hampshire voters to reject "establishment elites" and "outdated answers ... rooted in nostalgia."

"The trouble with nostalgia is that you tend to remember what you liked and forget what you didn't," Edwards said. "It's not just that the answers of the past aren't up to the job today, it's that the system that produced them was corrupt -- and still is."

Clinton often touts the successes of her husband's administration on the campaign trail as does the former president.

But Edwards said voters shouldn't replace "a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats." Seeming to take a page out of Republican talking points from the '90s, he added, "The American people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale, the Lincoln Bedroom is not for rent, and lobbyist money can no longer influence policy in the House or the Senate."

Following President Clinton's 1996 re-election, Republicans accused him of improperly allowing top campaign donors to spend a night in the White House, arguing the practice amounted to "renting" out the Lincoln Bedroom.

Edwards also said, "We cannot triangulate our way to real change," a veiled reference to the ex-Democratic president's political strategy of attempting to fashion a "third way" on issues to appeal to members of both political parties.

Edwards, who previously has attacked the former first lady for accepting campaign donations from lobbyists, continued his criticisms of the practice Thursday, decrying "the politicians who curry [lobbyists'] favor and carry their water."

The senator from New York has defended accepting $400,000 in campaign donations from lobbyists, saying at a recent presidential forum, "A lot of these lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They actually do. They represent nurses, they represent social workers -- yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people," she said.

The Clinton campaign hasn't responded to requests for comments on Edwards' speech.

His speech kicks off a four-day bus tour of New Hampshire, a crucial campaign state, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their three children.

Edwards To Divest Holdings Linked to Katrina Foreclosures

By MIKE GLOVER=
Associated Press Writer=
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John
Edwards, who has called homeownership "the foundation of the
American dream," said Friday he will divest his holdings in funds
linked to lenders that have foreclosed on Hurricane Katrina
victims.
"I will not have my family's money involved in these firms that
are foreclosing on people in New Orleans," he told the Associated
Press.
Edwards has reported $29.5 million in assets, millions of which
are invested in the hedge fund Fortress Investment Group., a
company that paid him nearly half a million dollars last year for
consulting advice.
Fortress has investments in lenders that offer subprime
mortgages, higher priced loans for borrowers considered greater
risks. The Wall Street Journal on Friday identified 34 New Orleans
homeowners who face foreclosure actions from lenders connected to
Fortress.
"My reaction is I'm going to help these people," Edwards said
in a telephone interview. "I just learned about this. I don't know
the details, I will find out and I will find a way to help them."
Edwards has decried the predatory lending practices that
sometimes accompany subprime mortgage lending, which especially
target minorities and the elderly, and can tie people to home loans
that they can't repay. He has built his campaign on an anti-poverty
message and has toured and worked in the neighborhoods devastated
by the 2005 hurricane. In fact, a three-day poverty tour he
embarked on last month began in New Orleans' hardest hit Lower
Ninth Ward.
Edwards worked part-time for Fortress Investment Group, getting
paid $479,512. He and his wife also had $2.7 million to $8.5
million invested in a Fortress subsidiaries, according to ranges
listed in his personal financial report. And Fortress executives
have donated generously to his presidential campaign -- company
employees have donated more than $150,000 toward his candidacy
during the first six months of the year.
Asked Friday if his investments damaged his image as a poverty
fighter, Edward's said: "No. Everyone knows I am completely
committed to eliminating poverty in this country. I have the
strongest national predatory lending proposal. These are things I
will pursue."
Edwards has proposed passing federal laws to prohibit mortgage
abuses and help homeowners at risk of foreclosure or bankruptcy.
Among its investments, Fortress has for some time owned a stake
in Green Tree Servicing, a company that specializes in managing
higher-priced mortgages for people with tarnished credit or low
incomes who are considered greater risks. As home-mortgage
delinquencies and foreclosures have surged in recent months,
especially for subprime loans, the distress has roiled financial
markets and sparked anxiety that it could spill over into the
broader economy.
Green Tree and a second subprime lender acquired by Fortress,
Nationstar Mortgage, were the two lenders filing foreclosure suits
in New Orleans, the Journal reported.

Associated Press Writer Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington contributed
to this report.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV-08-17-07 1321EDT

Edwards' wife calls Obama 'holier than thou,' criticizes Clinton

NEW YORK (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic candidate John Edwards, lambastes his rival Barack Obama as "holier than thou" on the Iraq war and accuses Hillary Rodham Clinton of failing to show leadership on health care and Iraq.

As her husband trails Clinton and Obama in national polls, Elizabeth Edwards has been an outspoken critic of his opponents. Last month, she said her husband would be a better champion for women as president than Clinton and more recently said, "We can't make John black, we can't make him a woman. Those things get you a lot of press, worth a certain amount of fundraising dollars."

In an interview published in the August issue of The Progressive magazine, Elizabeth Edwards complained about Obama, who opposed the war when he was a state legislator in Illinois but has voted for funds for the military.

John Edwards, then a North Carolina senator, voted in 2002 to authorize the military invasion of Iraq. Since then, he has said his vote was a mistake. He also voted against several funding requests while in the Senate -- but not all, as Elizabeth Edwards claimed in the interview.

"And honestly, the other candidates?" Elizabeth Edwards asked. "Obama gives a speech that's likely to be extraordinarily popular in his home district, and then comes to the Senate and votes for funding ... So you are going to get people behaving in a holier-than-thou way. But John stood up when he was in the Senate for exactly the thing he's asking these people to stand up for now."

Edwards also criticized both Obama and Clinton for not using their influence to line up additional votes to block an Iraq funding bill in May. The two senators were among just 13 Democrats to vote against the bill.

"We're electing the leader of the free world," Elizabeth Edwards said. "They should have been making speeches about why it was they were doing this, and standing up and trying to rally. And they didn't. They weren't leaders."

On health care, Edwards said Obama's plan for universal coverage was inadequate because it left 15 million uninsured. She also criticized Clinton for not producing a health care plan and for questioning whether there was sufficient "political will" to enact universal care.

"Hillary is saying we need to develop a political will. She hasn't been talking to people if she thinks we need to develop it. We do not. There is consensus on this issue," Edwards said.

Edwards even suggested Obama's signature theme -- a plea for hope and political unity -- had been lifted from her husband's 2004 presidential campaign.

"You listen to the language of what people say, particularly Obama, who seems to be using a lot of John's 2004 language," Edwards said, noting that Obama's media adviser, David Axelrod, worked for Edwards that year.

Spokesmen for both Clinton and Obama declined to comment on the Elizabeth Edwards interview.

Edwards vs. Clinton

John Edwards and Hilary Clinton go back and forth over the issue of accepting money from Washington lobbyists. Edwards asks a straightforward question... and gets a straightforward answer.

Murdoch's News Corp: Edwards benefits from book deal with company

By NEDRA PICKLER=
Associated Press Writer=

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is fighting back against Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards and his criticism of the media empire, pointing out that the 2004 vice presidential nominee was paid $500,000 by one of its companies.

HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp., paid the former North Carolina senator a $500,000 advance for his book, "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives."

The Edwards campaign said the money was donated to charity and that another $300,000 for expenses was used to pay researchers and other costs to write the book.

The figures were reported by the Murdoch-owned New York Post on Friday, a day after Edwards challenged his rivals to return political donations from News Corp. executives. Edwards said the Fox News Channel, owned by News Corp., has a right-wing bias and "the time has come for Democrats to stop pretending to be friends with the very people who demonize the Democratic Party."

Edwards' criticism was chiefly aimed at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has taken more than $20,000 in donations from Murdoch and other News Corp. executives.

"John Edwards did not receive one penny from this book," said Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz. "All of his proceeds went to charities, like Habitat for Humanity and the College for Everyone program. But this latest attack from the New York Post, a tool of Murdoch, proves our point better than we could ourselves."