Edwards touts economic plan at St. Charles town hall

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- America under the Bush administration is becoming a land of haves and have-nots, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said Friday during a visit to the St. Louis area.

"We're getting to the place where there are two economies," Edwards said, noting that one third of the Bush tax cut went to wealthy Americans. "Most of America is struggling every single day to get by."

Edwards spoke at the Foundry Art Centre along the Missouri River in historic downtown St. Charles. The center offers exhibition space for about 20 artists.

It was Edwards' second visit to Missouri this month. On Aug. 5, he spoke at a brief rally in Cape Girardeau before joining up with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for a statewide tour.

Missouri is considered among a handful of states still up for grabs in the Nov. 2 election. Polls show the race between Kerry and President Bush to be a virtual dead heat here. Both Kerry and Bush, along with Vice President Dick Cheney, have campaigned hard in Missouri.

Edwards said 1.4 million Americans lost health-care insurance over the last year, and 1.3 million fell into poverty over the same period. Under the Bush administration, 54,000 Missourians lost jobs, he said.

Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Danny Diaz said a government-funded health-care plan would derail economic recovery.

"Sen. Edwards knows that we can make health care more affordable by reducing the barrage of frivolous medical liability lawsuits that are costing Americans as much as $100 billion a year," Diaz said.

Edwards outlined Kerry's plan for revitalizing the economy. The plan includes proposals to:

Make up to $4,000 in college tuition costs available for tax credits.

Eliminate tax incentives for companies that outsource jobs overseas.

Create incentives for business, especially small business, in areas where jobs have been lost.

Improve health-care availability, partly by moving catastrophic costs into a separate pool.

Increase the minimum wage.

Edwards' appearance was in a town hall format. Many of the questions were related to the economy.

In response to other questions, Edwards:

Said the United States should allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from Canada.

Said the deficit could be reduced by half within four years through a rollback of Bush tax cuts, closing corporate loopholes and cutting spending.

Rejected one man's call to fight back against negative advertising, saying it results in ideas getting lost in the shuffle.