Edwards offers optimism

ALL ACROSS Manchester, this is what I hear, "I am worried about losing my job. I am worried about losing my health care. I am worried about losing my housing. And I am worried that the Democrats won't send the right guy to beat George Bush in November 2004."

When you support John Edwards, you are fortunate because he can address your concerns. You can say, "I support a candidate who will create 5 million jobs by ending tax loopholes that send jobs overseas. I support a candidate who will make health care a birthright for every child just like public education and bring down your healthcare costs. I support a candidate who has a plan to save working families by helping them buy their first home and save for retirement. And I support a candidate who will beat George Bush in the North, the East, the West, and in the South."

The more the people of New Hampshire and across America get to know Edwards, the more they like him. They like his optimism. They like how he doesn't attack the others every hour on the hour. They like his plan, "Real Solutions for America," which offers everything from a $2,500 tax credit for families with a newborn to banning Washington lobbyist money from federal campaigns to creating a new Global Nuclear Compact to rid the world of the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

Edwards gets it. By the time the New Hampshire primary arrives he will have hosted 100 town halls. What he hears over and over again is that we still live in "two Americas" -- one for the insiders and another for everybody else. Only Edwards can unite us and build one America that works for all of us.

On a cold and drizzly January afternoon, Edwards stood on the steps of Nashua's City Hall and said, "Cynics didn't build America; optimists built America." That's John Edwards in a sentence. When he is our next president, watch out America -- he will build an America that we all can be proud of.

Lou D'Allesandro is a New Hampshire state senator.