"You don't bring change by shuffling papers, and you don't bring change by just giving a speech"

With dig at Schwarzenegger, John Edwards campaigns in Calif.

AP Political Writer
01/17/2008

LOS ANGELES—John Edwards accused Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday of trying to gut education and health care programs at a campaign rally where he promised to usher in a new era of prosperity and security for working-class America.

The Democratic presidential candidate told hundreds of cheering supporters at a rooftop rally that he reviewed Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, which calls for 10 percent cuts to most state agencies and would slash classroom funding by hundreds of dollars per student.

"The last thing that needs to happen ... is to have any of the funding that is necessary to provide health care for Californians cut. That funding needs to be there," Edwards said.

"We should not be cutting funding for K-through-12 education. Who in the world in America thinks we have too much money invested in public education?" he added. "This makes absolutely no sense."

Edwards' appearance came on a day when his chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, were also campaigning in the state. California holds its presidential primary Feb. 5.

In a nearly 20-minute speech in which he repeatedly used the word "change," he sought to distinguish his candidacy by pointing out he was alone among the leading Democrats to flatly oppose new nuclear plants and "has never taken a dime from a Washington lobbyist or a special interest" political action committee.

Clearly referring to Obama's soaring oratory and Clinton's self-professed management skills, Edwards said, "You don't bring about change by shuffling papers, and you don't bring about change by just giving a speech. We have to actually have some guts, some determination and some fight if we want to bring the change that America so desperately needs."


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