AP Interview: Edwards says Obama should run for president
The Associated Press
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is not yet willing to commit to another run for president, but the 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president said Sunday that Illinois Senator Barack Obama should get into the race.
"I hope he runs. I think he should run," Edwards told The Associated Press. "This is such an important job that I would urge anybody who can make a serious contribution to the campaign and the dialogue — either in our party or the other party — to run.
"America ought to have a choice among the best possible people to be president of the United States. And I trust the judgment of the voters."
But Edwards, who sought his party's nomination for the White House in 2004 after a single term in the Senate, said whether Obama — or any other candidate — enters the race will have no bearing on his decision to make a second run for president.
"I honestly don't have any timetable," Edwards said. "If you were in my house listening to (wife) Elizabeth and me talk, you'd know I don't have a timetable. Obviously, at some point over the next weeks and months, I have to make that decision."
Edwards has been traveling the country in the past year promoting programs to combat poverty. On Sunday, he was in South Carolina to promote a new book he edited on childhood homes, "Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives."
While there, he touted his proposals to reform education, promote universal health care and pull troops out of Iraq. His book tour also has stopped in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada — all key states in the presidential nominating process.
"I need to make final decisions about what I think the president needs to be doing starting in 2008, and whether I think I'm well-suited to accomplish that," Edwards said. "And, on a personal level, how my family fits into it."
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