Edwards vows to continue campaign against poverty

As he sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2004 and then as John Kerry's running mate, John Edwards talked about poverty more than any other candidate.

But when he spoke on the campaign trail about what he referred to as the "two Americas," he told a conference on poverty last week in Chapel Hill, N.C., "people called it a downer."

Now Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and a presumed contender for his party's 2008 presidential nomination, has more than ever made curbing poverty the centerpiece of his work and his political approach.

This is his true passion, he said in an interview, and he thinks that voters may be more responsive in the coming years.