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Edwards Won’t Necessarily Defer to Ex-Running Mate Kerry in ’08

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From Associated Press

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will not talk about whether he plans to run for the White House in 2008, but he is not pledging to stand aside if former running mate Sen. John F. Kerry tries again.

Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he and Kerry (D-Mass.) had talked often since they lost in November to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

He would not say if he would follow the example set by Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who was chosen by Al Gore as the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2000. Lieberman said he would not run in 2004 if Gore wanted to seek the presidency again. Gore did not, and Lieberman campaigned for the Democratic nomination.

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“Not only are John Kerry and I friends, our families are close,” Edwards said. “I have enormous respect for him. But I’ll decide what’s the right thing to do based on what’s going on with my own family.”

Edwards said his wife, Elizabeth, was doing well in her fight against breast cancer.

He applauded Iraqis for braving terrorist threats and voting for a national assembly last month, but said Bush administration policies had had a mixed effect in the Middle East.

“There are some things that are happening that are positive, and there are some things that are happening that are not positive,” Edwards said. “I mean, there is an entire generation of people growing up in the Muslim world who are faced with poverty and despair. And they’re blaming us. I mean, we are a natural target. And George Bush has helped make us a natural target.”

Rather than allow Americans to create private accounts with part of their Social Security contributions, as Bush proposes, Edwards said he would roll back tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of households and put that money into the Social Security system.

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