DemocracyFest has brought together a large gathering of progressive activists in New Hampshire, and as such, draws the attention of many of the Presidential campaigns. The first to speak was Sen. Edwards. He arrived around half an hour late and delivered what I thought was a very good speech. I must admit, that I’m an Edwards supporter and am biased. Jim Dean introduced Sen. Edwards and spoke about Edwards visiting Vermont in 2005 to talk with political leaders about addressing issues of poverty. He spoke about Sen. Edwards recognizing that Washington DC is no longer the center of the universe.

Sen. Edwards picked up this theme and said, “We will never bring about the bold change we need in this country, unless we do it from the ground up.” He went on to acknowledge that we have a lot of work to do.

He started off by talking about the war. We spoke about the Democrats taking back congress as a mandate to end the war and echoed the frustration that many have about Democrats in Congress caving to President Bush. He said congress should not submit any funding bill to the president that doesn’t have a withdrawal schedule. He acknowledged voting for the war and admitted he was wrong for that.

He went on to talk about poverty and health care. He gave some details of his healthcare plan, claiming it is the only truly universal plan that any of the candidates have presented. Anyone will be able to get ‘Medicare Plus’, but people will still be able to get traditional plans if they so chose. If the Medicare Plus plan is as good as Sen. Edwards believes it will be, then most Americans will opt for it and will move us towards a true single payer plan.

He spoke about treating mental health equally with physical health, making sure that people are not denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions and mandating electronic record keeping. The medical plan would cost between $90 and $120 billion and would be paid for by getting rid of President Bush’s tax breaks for the extremely wealthy.

He went talk briefly about energy prices. He spoke about the need America to get off our addition to oil. He spoke about the need for big changes, including that we should stop subsidizing large oil companies to the tune of $3 billion a year.

His final point was about the need for ‘College for Everyone’, and described how it is working in North Carolina.

During the questions and answers, he kept returning to the issues of poverty, “I want to say a word about this issue of poverty….It says something about the character of America…America is better than this…And we have a responsibility to do something about this… I think what has happened in New Orleans is a national embarssment…
”

He spoke about the New York Times Magazine which should have a front page article about fighting poverty today. He spoke about the importance of a livable wage and the role of unions in fighting poverty in America

When asked about the push back that insurance and pharmaceutical companies are bound to give if he gets a chance to push for his healthcare reform, he said,
“Every time you see an ad on television, I want you to ask, who’s paying for this?”

That’s a good idea for whatever ads we see.

As to addressing voting issues, he said, “If you love this country, if you love democracy, don’t you want to make sure that your votes are counted?”

I was already an Edwards supporter and it didn’t change my mind. I don’t know what others where thinking, but his speech was well received.