Cheney is more qualified than Edwards, Specter says

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Arlen Specter, sent out Wednesday by the Bush campaign to respond to John Kerry's naming of his running mate, questioned Sen. John Edwards' credentials to be the nation's vice president but stopped short of criticizing him.
The Democrat doesn't measure up to Vice President Dick Cheney on defense issues or foreign affairs, Specter told reporters in a conference call set up by the Bush's Pennsylvania campaign staff. But he called Edwards a friend, and said there's "no doubt of his competence and intelligence." Edwards was elected to the Senate in 1998 after making millions as a trial lawyer in North Carolina. Cheney has served as a congressman, Secretary of Defense during the first Bush administration and as White House chief of staff to President Ford.
Specter is also running for re-election against Democratic challenger Rep. Joe Hoeffel, who predicted the Democratic ticket would play well in Pennsylvania, "where we have a lot of economic pain and economic insecurity among middle class folks -- the kind of people John Edwards has been fighting for his whole career."
Specter's son, Philadelphia trial lawyer Shanin Specter, and his wife gave Edwards a combined $4,000 during the Democratic presidential primary, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.com, a database of Federal Election Commission records.
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