Edwards Says He Represents the "Grownup Wing" of the Dem Party
CONWAY, S.C. -- John Edwards believes he came off as the only adult on last night's Democratic debate stage in Myrtle Beach night.
"Between all of the allegations of Hillary serving on the WalMart board and Sen. Obama working for a slumlord, I was proud to represent the grownup wing of the Democratic Party last night," said Edwards at a town hall meeting in Conway, SC this morning.
"(When) all of those kind of personal attacks are going on," he continued, "it doesn't do a thing to get somebody healthcare that doesn't have healthcare. It doesn't do a thing to get our kids the kind of education that they need."
Edwards later told reporters that he believes he won last night's debate, but admits it remains to be seen if his performance will resonate with South Carolina voters.
"It depends on how many people watched the debate, how much of it gets replayed on television," he said. "The struggle for me, of course, is getting heard. I know that when I get heard this message of fighting for the middle class and the promise of this country being available to everybody – which is at the core of everything that I'm doing – people respond to it."
Edwards also focused much of his attention this morning on the economy, upon news from Wall Street that stocks are tumbling.
"There's a disconnect between Washington and the government paying attention to what's happening in real people's lives, as opposed to just paying attention to what's happening on Wall Street," he said at this morning's event.
Edwards proposes to stimulate the economy by investing in "green" infrastructure that he says would in turn create one million new jobs. He also proposes modernizing unemployment laws and to create a national home rescue fund to help deal with the mortgage crisis.
And on a conference call with reporters this morning, Edwards announced the endorsement of the South Carolina Communications Workers of America. The state CWA is made up of six locals, representing 2,200 active and 1,700 retired members.
Edwards travels to New York City today, where he'll tape appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and the Tyra Banks Show.