Edwards, Kerry Take Messages West

The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination shifted westward Wednesday, less than a week before Super Tuesday, when voters in California and nine other states will weigh in on the Democrat they consider to be the best challenger to President Bush.

Beating rival Sen. John F. Kerry to California by a day, Sen. John Edwards sought to inject the energy of youth into his campaign by imploring more than 350 Pomona College students to join his quest to “end a shame in America, which is poverty.”

For the first time in weeks, the North Carolina senator spoke in detail about his proposals, which he has said would be largely funded by rolling back Bush’s tax cuts for families earning more than $200,000, and by closing four corporate tax loopholes. Some money would be used to eliminate the marriage tax penalty for poor couples and to offer free healthcare for poor families.

Kerry, meanwhile, capped off his two-day “Jobs Tour” in Ohio by proposing that employers be required to give workers 90-day notice before sending jobs overseas. He also said that, if elected president, he would require companies to disclose the jobs that they ship abroad.

Edwards, a first-term senator, is making a 2 1/2-day swing through California. Kerry expects to arrive here today, when both men -- joined by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York -- are to take part in the Los Angeles Times/CNN debate at 6 p.m. at USC.

Recent polls show the Massachusetts senator with a double-digit lead in California. Herb Wesson, the former California Assembly speaker and Edwards’ state chairman, said the former trial lawyer had a lot of work ahead of him.

“We are in this to win,” Wesson said Wednesday, speaking to reporters aboard Edwards’ campaign plane. “Yes, we have a mountain to climb, but we will climb it. We will work until it’s done. We’re not in this just to make a good showing.”

Wesson stopped short of promising an Edwards victory in California, saying only that “it is possible.”

So far, Kerry has won 18 of the 20 Democratic contests; Edwards has won one, his native South Carolina, and has a third of the delegates Kerry has amassed.

On Tuesday, Kerry won Democratic contests in three more states -- Idaho, Utah and Hawaii. Edwards finished a distant second in Idaho and Utah. Kucinich, the only candidate to campaign in Hawaii, took second there. Edwards was third.

But with 1,151 delegates at stake in 10 contests next week, Edwards and Kerry are homing in on delegate-rich states like Ohio, New York and California. This morning, Edwards has an event planned in San Francisco, and Kerry has scheduled an afternoon visit with striking grocery workers at a Vons supermarket in Santa Monica.

Edwards, a former trial lawyer, has based his campaign on such populist themes as class division, the moral responsibility to fight poverty and the need to strip the influence of special interests from government.

In a speech at Pomona College, he stuck largely to poverty and his desire to draw young Americans into the democratic process -- an apparent continuation of his effort to snare supporters of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

He repeated and detailed previous proposals, including a $1.50 per-hour increase in the $5.75-minimum wage, expanded child and earned-income tax credits, tax breaks for companies that locate in dilapidated areas, healthcare for all children and a free year of college tuition for students willing to work 10 hours a week.

He said that when the United States has a president “who understands that a rising tide lifts all boats, America prospers and grows stronger,” lifting people out of poverty.

Edwards was confronted again with the issue of gay marriage. He supports civil unions, but believes the issue of gay marriage should be left to states to resolve and does not support the constitutional amendment Bush has endorsed.

On Tuesday, he told reporters in Georgia that he personally opposed gay marriage “because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” and walked away as he was asked for a more detailed explanation.

On Wednesday, Edwards reiterated his personal opposition to gay marriage and support for civil unions, but declined to elaborate on his views regarding gay marriage.

Speaking tersely, he said, “I’m done with that question.”

In Ohio on Wednesday, Kerry told nearly 1,000 people at the University of Toledo that he would require employers to give three months’ notice before outsourcing jobs, and that he would force companies to disclose what jobs they shipped out.

“Accountability begins with the public’s right to know. We’re going to require full disclosure to the American public about how many jobs are going overseas, where they’re going, why they’re going,” he said.

The Warren Act requires that companies laying off 50 or more employees, or more than one-third of their workforce, give workers 60 days’ notice of any layoff. The Kerry campaign says many big companies don’t reach the one-third threshold, which means the notification requirement is often not used. The Warren Act does not address outsourcing.

The Kerry proposal would expand the Warren Act in several ways. It would increase notification from 60 to 90 days. It would address jobs being outsourced, not just layoffs. And it would lower the reporting threshold to any outsourcing that would affect more than 15 workers at a company.

While he argued that protectionism would harm the country, Kerry criticized the Bush administration for failing to enforce existing measures in treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement -- provisions that could penalize other countries for unfair trade practices that harm American workers.

But reflecting the challenge facing Democrats on the issue of job losses and a globalized economy, Kerry’s proposal would not prevent job losses from occurring in Ohio. Kerry acknowledged that reality.

“I’m not going to come here and tell you that, if I’m president, all of Ohio’s factories will spring back to life, that all the rivers of steel will suddenly flow again. You wouldn’t believe me if I did, and you’re right,” he said.

Republican leaders continued to attack Kerry by highlighting Senate votes that they argued showed him to be weak on defense.

Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie said Kerry in 1995 supported a proposal to cut intelligence funding by $1.5 billion over five years. He also cited what he said were votes to eliminate funding for several weapons systems, including the B-1 and B-2 bombers.

“These votes demonstrate a lack of judgment when it comes to national security,” Gillespie said.

Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-Wash.), a legislative veteran on military issues, said Republicans were distorting Kerry’s record.

While Republicans claimed he voted against multiple weapons systems, Dicks said those allegations were based on a single vote against the 1991 defense appropriations bill. He said Kerry had voted for 16 of the 19 defense spending bills that came up during his 19-year Senate career, including $1.1 trillion in spending since Bush became president.

“To say he is weak on defense is a joke,” Dicks said.

Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this report. Martelle reported from Claremont; La Ganga from St. Paul, Minn.