Edwards Says He Has "Plenty of Money"

(CBS)

From CBS News' Aaron Lewis:

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. -- John Edwards continued his light schedule in South Carolina today with a stop in Summerville. The crowd of less than a hundred listened to Edwards make his pitch for strengthening the middle class in addition to other domestic issues like tax policy and education.

During the Q and A session a veteran of the War in Iraq asked Edwards how he would responsibly with draw troops from the country. Before answering the question, Edwards thanked him for his service, and the audience gave a rousing standing ovation.

In response to the one and only question at his press conference, Edwards said he has plenty of money to continue competing against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"We have plenty of money to run a serious campaign," said Edwards. "And I think more important than that, I don't think voters are going to be controlled by money. We're gonna have an election, not an auction. And they're gonna actually focus on what it is we stand for, what we're fighting for, and I feel very optimistic about what'll happen."

Also today, the campaign began running a new TV spot in SC titled "Mill."

"I'm not running president because I read something in a book," Edwards says in the ad. "I'm not running for president because some political consultant told me what I'm supposed to say. I'm running for president because of 54 years of my life, I have believed to my soul that the men and women who worked in that mill with my father were worth every bit as much as the man that owned that mill."

[pmorlan]

How revealing - one question asked and it wasn''t really a question it was a not so subtle hint to get out.

I won''t even ask when is the media going to cover Edwards because I''ve asked this far too many times. But when is the media going to cover the back story on these campaigns? I noticed a column in the NYT today that talks about the DLC promoting Obama & Clinton but not Edwards and this story agrees with something Chuck Todd said on MNSBC a few months ago. Todd said that Party insiders HATE Edwards but MSNBC has never done a story about it nor has anyone else. The NYT piece today was the first time I''ve seen anything even come close.

The NYT story also mirrors what we''ve seen on TV. We''ve seen Democratic consultant/pundits regularly appear on right-wing TV shows like Tucker & Beck (Peter Fenn, Bill Press, Amy Stoddard) introduced as objective observers. Whenever they appear they never miss a chance to attack Edwards. Why is the media not digging into this back story? Who is sending these people to these shows?

You can also view a hit piece by Lawrence O''Donnell on the Huffington Post today that kneecaps Edwards. This is clearly an organized effort and the voters need to know who is doing it.