Edwards sees Bush response to 9/11 panel as weak
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards yesterday accused the Bush campaign of fear mongering, dirty politics, and misleading the American public with negative television ads at a town hall meeting of 500 supporters.
Edwards, who has been crisscrossing the country holding question-and-answer sessions in battleground states, returned to New Hampshire to outline the Kerry-Edwards seven-point strategy in the war on terror. He also discussed how a Democratic White House would work to decrease prescription drug costs and create jobs.
Edwards hammered President Bush's position that the United States is winning the war in Iraq, and said the administration's response to recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission was weak.
"This president needs to get out of fantasy land and come back to Earth," Edwards said to a round of cheers.
Edwards, a senator from North Carolina and a former trial attorney, seemed comfortable in the town hall format. He listened intently and looked questioners in the eye.
"New Hampshire has been hit very hard by job losses, and we have the first president in 75 years who has not created jobs," Edwards said. "We want to create jobs, and we must raise the minimum wage."
A new Concord Monitor poll conducted by Research 2000, a Maryland-based polling firm, indicates that Bush and John F. Kerry are tied in the Granite State, each favored by 46 percent of likely voters surveyed. Ralph Nader received 2 percent support, and 6 percent of respondents said they were undecided. New Hampshire has four electoral votes and traditionally has gone Republican. In a tight race, even several electoral votes could be crucial.
Edwards was joined yesterday by Kristen Breitweiser, who received a standing ovation from the crowd. Breitweiser was a leading advocate of the creation of the Sept. 11 commission and is working to ensure that the commission's recommendations are implemented. Her husband, Ronald, died in the attacks on the World Trade Center.
"I have been working in the trenches in Washington, trying to get this administration to listen to the recommendations," Breitweiser said. "It has been frustrating to be begging, to be pleading, and at times screaming. And I can tell you, they are not listening and we are not safe."
Breitweiser, who said she voted for Bush in 2000, acknowledged that she is worried that the conflict in Iraq will spawn new terrorists bent on attacking Americans.
After leaving Manchester, Edwards was scheduled to attend a fund-raiser at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, but campaign aides later announced that the candidate had canceled his appearance because firefighters were picketing the event. Providence firefighters are in a dispute over contract negotiations with Mayor David N. Cicilline, a Democrat.
