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Pledging to help middle-class Americans who are "one medical emergency or one layoff away from bankruptcy," John Edwards brought his presidential campaign to Orangeburg on Friday night.

The North Carolina Democrat -- a first-term U.S. senator and trial lawyer -- blasted President Bush and touted his jobs creation plan in a 20-minute speech at a fish fry at The Liberty Room.

"I was born here in South Carolina," he said. "I know what's happening here. We've got people who are hurting. ... George Bush is so out of touch."

Nationally, three million private-sector jobs have been lost during Bush's tenure, and four million Americans have lost health care coverage, Edwards said.

Some 128,000 South Carolinians are out of work, and the state has lost 58,000 manufacturing jobs since Bush took office, he said.

"We want to be exporting American products, not American jobs," Edwards said. "As president, I will bring jobs to those areas that desperately need them."

"We've gone from a $5 trillion surplus to a $5 trillion deficit. This man has taken us $10 trillion in the wrong direction in three years," Edwards said. "He has done an extraordinary amount of damage. This guy is making his father look good."

Edwards is a frequent front-runner in South Carolina in a crowded field of nine candidates for the Democratic Party nomination and the chance to challenge Bush next November.

South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary on Feb. 3 "is very important," Edwards said in an interview, adding that counties like Orangeburg, "which are traditionally strongly Democratic, are going to play a huge role in selecting the next president of the United States."

In the audience were some heavy hitters in local Democratic Party politics. Some undoubtedly came out of curiosity, but others have already taken the plunge and endorsed Edwards.

"John Edwards has the fire in his belly to lead America," said John Rickenbacker, chairman of the Orangeburg County Council. "He's committed to bringing jobs to rural areas.

"He represents a fresh face in the Democratic Party. He reminds me of a young John Kennedy and an aggressive, smart Bill Clinton," Rickenbacker added. "I think he's a genuinely sincere candidate -- nothing phony about him at all."

Rickenbacker, Chester Ray and state Sen. Brad Hutto are the co-chairs of Edwards' campaign in Orangeburg County.

"He knows what problems we face in rural South Carolina," Hutto said.

Not only that, but he knows how to address them, said Ray, who is chairman of the Orangeburg County Board of Education. "I think he's a God-sent man. He's what we need. He's our Nehemiah."

U.S. Rep. Al Wynn of Maryland agreed. "He's got solid values for working-class people. He's got practical ideas, things we can afford, things we can do. Unlike some candidates who are promising you the world, he's taking a realistic approach."

Edwards was born in 1953 in Seneca in the northwest corner of the state and has "vivid memories" of life in a racially segregated society.

Watching courageous federal judges issue rulings to desegregate the public schools and enforce civil rights laws taught him not to take lightly the job of selecting and confirming federal judges.

Southerners "have a special responsibility, not to follow but to lead when it comes to civil rights," he said.

Edwards said he believes not only in civil rights, but in equal rights and equal pay for women. "We need to treat women with the respect they're entitled to," he said to applause.

Edwards was "the first in my family to go to college." Although he is now quite successful, his heart is still with "middle-class working Americans" when it comes to crucial issues like jobs, health care and education.

Health care ought to be a "birthright" of all Americans, and the key to creating affordable health care is to stand up to the pharmaceutical companies, he declared amid applause.

"We still have two public school systems in this country: the haves and the have-nots," Edwards said. The federal government should be helping boost the salaries of teachers, especially those who agree to work in less-advantaged schools.

He supports early childhood education programs that take a holistic approach, including nutrition and health, and opposes Bush's elimination of money for afterschool programs for half a million children.

Decrying Bush's cuts in college loan programs, Edwards said he would make a state or community college education affordable for anyone who is willing to work 10 hours a week.

Turning to international affairs, Edwards chastised Bush for putting "young men and women in a shooting gallery" in Iraq. A reconstruction plan that is exclusively American "will never work," he said, adding that it should be turned over to the United Nations and NATO.

Edwards said the president is "talking out of two sides of his mouth" by urging North Korea and Iran to freeze their nuclear weapons programs at the same time the U.S. "is developing two new kinds of nuclear weapons."

As we fight the war on terrorism, "we can't forget what it is we're fighting for," Edwards said, and launched into a tirade against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"This election is about something bigger than any single issue. This is about what kind of America we are and what kind of America we want to be," Edwards said.

"It's about the power in your democracy. It does not belong to that crowd in Washington, D.C. The power of this democracy belongs to you. We have got to get the power in your democracy out of the hands of that crowd of insiders that are running this country now and giving it back to you and back to the American people.

"I don't believe in George Bush's America," Edwards declared. "I believe in an America where the family you are born into and the color of your skin never controls what you are able to do.

"I still believe in an America where the son of a mill worker can beat the son of a president for the White House."

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.

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