Edwards targets health care

The Democratic presidential candidate spoke at a $15-per-ticket event in Columbus.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards pushed universal health care in a speech to supporters at a union hall Friday, saying that if elected, he would set a deadline for lawmakers to enact comprehensive health care or lose their own.

The former senator told a few hundred people attending a small-dollar fundraiser aimed at grass-roots supporters that if he would tell members of Congress and the Cabinet that they will lose their government health insurance unless they approve universal health care by July 2009.

Edwards also took aim at President Bush, accusing the president of stifling dissent in the country and asking the American people to sit passively while his administration makes decisions about the safety of the country.

“That’s not America. That’s not who we are,” Edwards said. “We don’t cower in the corner waiting for the president to take care of us.”

The candidate also directed criticism at the Democratic front-runner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, without naming her.

“We don’t want to replace corporate Republicans with corporate Democrats,” he said.

Blasts Limbaugh

Edwards again denounced radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh as he had earlier in the day while campaigning in New Hampshire.

Edwards took issue with Limbaugh’s characterization of Iraq war veterans who have spoken out against the war as “phony soldiers.” He called on Republicans to denounce Limbaugh the same way they denounced Democrats after the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org ran an advertisement criticizing Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Tickets for the Columbus event were priced at $15. The gathering was dubbed as one in a series of fundraisers Edwards began in June under the banner of “Small Change for Big Change,” his campaign said.

The event came one day after the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee announced a shift that could inject big money into his campaign. He said Thursday he would accept public campaign funds collected from taxpayers who designate $3 of their income taxes for the fund.

Edwards, who had once rejected public financing for his campaign, has been bringing in far fewer dollars than his major rivals. In the first six months of this year, Barack Obama raised $58.5 million and Hillary Clinton collected $52 million, while Edwards raised $23 million.

Edwards could get up to $21 million in public money for the primary, but his overall spending on the primary elections could not exceed about $50 million.

His Columbus appearance was his first in Ohio since mid-July, when he visited Youngstown and Cleveland as part of a tour spotlighting poverty issues.