http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080623/METRO/806230405/1410/METRO01DETROIT -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards used a rousing speech on combating poverty Monday to promote Barack Obama as a president who will best address economic hardship, the United States' standing abroad and inequality in education.
With his trademark Southern accent, Edwards said Republican candidate John McCain will build a wall around progress to low-income people, but promised Obama "will tear it down" as president.
"It's time to have an economy that works for everybody," said Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina. "It is a moral outrage that kids go to bed hungry. We can end the shame of 37 million people living in poverty."
Edwards, once an Obama rival for the presidential nomination, spoke on the final day of the ACORN national conference at Cobo Center.
ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and fights on the behalf of the impoverished by pushing for a higher minimum wage. Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and City Council President Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr. preceded Edwards and offered welcoming remarks.