Edwards courts labor vote

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards celebrated snagging two coveted labor union endorsements during a stop Monday in central Iowa on Labor Day, while continuing to tout himself as the candidate who cares most about labor issues.

"I want to be the president who walks down the White House lawn and says the word union, who walks down the White House lawn and makes certain that America understands the importance of the organized labor movement in the history of America," said Edwards.

Earlier in the day he received the endorsement of the United Mine Workers of America and the United Steelworkers, the largest industrial union in North America. He already had the support of United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and now says he has more labor endorsements than any of the other Democratic presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, rival candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton also courted labor activists in Iowa as she campaigned with a sharply populist theme, including a stop at the same Des Moines labor rally attended by Edwards.

She told the crowd that Labor Day was about respecting and celebrating the hard work that built America, and making "sure that you have the right to organize and bargain your way into the 21st century."

"It is also essential that we resolve that we're not going to just celebrate labor on Labor Day, but that we're going to celebrate labor every day, and that we have a president who appreciates the contributions" of labor unions and working America, said Clinton.

Clinton, who was joined Monday by her husband, the former president, also has labor endorsements _ from the United Transportation Union and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Before traveling to Iowa, Edwards made a stop at a labor rally in Pittsburgh where he marched in a parade to the state fairgrounds to deliver speech to the South Central Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Edwards promised to push for universal health care to help all Americans, and back trade policy that will create jobs, declaring: "In my administration the question will be: 'Is this trade deal good for working, middle-class Americans?'."

Edwards said he has shown his support for labor and "over 200 times over the past few years I have walked picket lines, worked personally in organizing campaigns, worked with employers to get them to open the process of union organizing in their personal business."

Steelworkers President Leo W. Gerard told The Associated Press by telephone that Edwards has made "standing up for working people" his life's work.

Elizabeth Edwards, in a telephone interview with the AP, said her husband is running for president to help working people. "If there wasn't a need here for a strong voice ... he wouldn't be in the race," she said.

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