Edwards to launch White House bid in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, Dec 28 (Reuters) John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, launches another White House run today using a poor New Orleans neighbourhood ravaged by Hurricane Katrina as backdrop for his populist message.

Edwards opens his campaign among the debris and wreckage of the city's lower Ninth Ward, which was wiped out in last year's hurricane and where the storm's mostly poor victims are struggling to rebuild.

The former North Carolina senator has said the aftermath of Katrina and the poverty of its victims illustrate his 2004 campaign references to ''two Americas'' -- one for the comfortable and another for the struggling.

Edwards, who opened an anti-poverty center in North Carolina and promised during his first presidential bid to be ''a champion for regular people.'' He has proposed a series of work, housing and school measures aimed at lifting millions of Americans out of poverty in the next ten years, and called for a goal of ending poverty within 30 years.

He is the third candidate to formally jump into a Democratic presidential race where he ultimately might have to compete for money and support with leading contenders Sens.

Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich are the other Democrats that have officially entered the race. Edwards' 2004 running mate, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, and a half-dozen other Democrats are expected to decide in the next few weeks.

With Clinton and Obama threatening to soak up much of the political oxygen in the 2008 campaign, several Democrats have ruled out a run. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh pulled out of the race just weeks after forming a committee to explore his options.

Edwards aides said he chose to launch his campaign during the normally quiet week between Christmas and New Year's Day to maximize attention and get a head start on the expected flurry of announcements in January.

VISITING IOWA, NEW HAMPSHIRE NEXT After his appearance in New Orleans, he will fly to the crucial state of Iowa, which holds the first presidential nominating contest in January 2008, for a town hall meeting and then visit New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina for other campaign events.

Edwards, the son of a millworker and the first person in his family to attend college, was one of the country's most successful and wealthy personal injury attorneys before entering politics in 1998.

He left the Senate after one term to run for president, entering the primaries as a potential ''fresh face'' before candidates like Howard Dean and Kerry zoomed past him to lead the pack.

As his rivals dropped away, Edwards kept plugging his economic message. He rose to become the last major challenger for Kerry, who won the nomination and chose Edwards as his vice presidential running mate.

Edwards, who squared off against Vice President Dick Cheney in a 2004 debate, failed to make much of an impression during the general election campaign as he and Kerry lost to President George W Bush and Cheney.

His roots in the South, where he grew up in North and South Carolina, could be an asset for a party trying to broaden its appeal. The last three Democratic presidents -- Lyndon Johnson of Texas, Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Bill Clinton of Arkansas -- were from the South.

REUTERS BDP DS1132