Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards returned to West Virginia on Wednesday to talk about the outsourcing of jobs during the Bush administration but many in the crowd wanted to talk about the war in Iraq.
During a question-and-answer session, one woman whose 23-year-old son recently graduated from WVU's main campus in Morgantown asked Edwards whether the draft would be reinstated.
"There will be no draft when John Kerry is president," Edwards said, sparking one of several standing ovations he received during the event, which sometimes had the feel of a religious revival meeting.
Another woman whose son is now serving in Iraq said her son wanted to know why the vehicles in his convoys are not armored. She said one vehicle in her son's unit was attacked last week and three soldiers were killed.
Bill Ambrose, a land surveyor from Volcano, told Edwards, "I don't know why we can't hammer George Bush. The concern is we are not supporting the troops. I think that's a separate issue. We all support the troops. This administration has made the most monumental foreign policy mistakes since Vietnam."
Edwards seemed slightly taken aback by Ambrose's comments. He said when he and Kerry say they support and admire American troops serving in Iraq, "it's not just words, it's what we really believe."
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