John Edwards offers many big ideas (LA Times/AP)

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John Edwards offers many big ideas
But the price tags are also large.
From Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Presidential candidate John Edwards is offering more policy proposals than any other candidate in the primary and his ideas are winning loud applause from Democratic audiences.

The question is whether other voters will cheer when they see the price tag -- more than $125 billion a year.

Edwards is quick to acknowledge his spending on health care, energy and poverty reduction comes at a cost, with more plans to come. On Friday, he proposed an $8 billion college scholarship program, an outgrowth of his "College for Everyone" idea in 2005.

All told, Edwards' proposals would equal more than $1 trillion if he could get them enacted into law and operational during two White House terms.

To put the number in perspective, President Bush has dedicated more than $1.8 trillion to tax cuts. The cost of the Iraq war is nearing $450 billion. And this year's federal budget is about $2.8 trillion.

(snip)

Still, Edwards has been the most forthcoming Democratic candidate when it comes to describing the details of how he would like to run the country. His chief rivals -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama -- have offered few hints about their policy proposals.

The ideas are the centerpiece of Edwards' plan to position himself as the party's true progressive in the primary. He hopes the big ideas will attract the liberal Iowa caucus goers, online energy and labor endorsements that he's counting on to propel him to the nomination, said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane.

"If the costs become a real issue, it will be a good problem to have for him because the only folks likely to make a real argument against it would be the Republicans, which means his strategy succeeded and he was the nominee," said Lehane, who worked in the Clinton White House and for Al Gore's candidacy in 2000.


http://www.latimes.com:80/news/politics/la-na-apedwards11may11,0,817675.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

Transformational Change For America And The World - JOHN EDWARDS for PRESIDENT 2008

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"I'm proposing we set a national goal of eliminating poverty in the next 30 years." - JOHN EDWARDS 08

Silence is Betrayal - JOHN EDWARDS 08

Ending Poverty in America