Edwards to make major policy address on poverty in New Orleans today

[Bluebear]

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards canceled campaign events in Alabama and North Dakota to make a "major policy address on poverty" Wednesday in New Orleans, where he launched his presidential bid 13 months ago.

Campaign officials said Edwards, who has trailed Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in recent primaries, does not plan to end his candidacy and will reschedule the two dropped trips. Nonetheless, people close to the campaign said Tuesday's announcement caught them off guard, and some found it perplexing.

In a news release, the Edwards campaign called poverty "the great moral issue of our time." In recent days, it said, "national discussion of important issues like ending poverty has given way to sniping and personal attacks between the two front-runner candidates. Ending poverty and fighting for the middle class is the cause of John Edwards' life — and he will urge the nation to refocus on this important issue."...

Some people close to the campaign said Edwards was disappointed that poverty got little mention in Democratic reactions to President Bush's State of the Union address Monday, and he sees the New Orleans speech as a chance to refocus attention on the problem. These people, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said they had no indication that Edwards planned to leave the race.

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