John Edwards Feels Your Pain

In spite of a 28,000 square foot mansion, a penchant for $400 haircuts, and over $29.5 million reported in personal assets to the Federal Elections Commission, John Edwards began his "poverty tour" Sunday in New Orleans.

Edwards' tour this week is meant to echo the historic 1968 poverty tour made by then-presidential hopeful and senator Robert Kennedy. Today, Edwards begins his morning with the ABC-TV program "Good Morning America," broadcast live from the Cabildo, and will visit Kingsley House and Cafe Reconcile before he leaves for Canton, Miss. During the New Orleans leg of his tour, Edwards will focus on the sluggish pace of recovery, the need for good jobs and solid infrastructure, and ways to keep the city safe, both from hurricanes and crime.

The personal injury lawyer continues to lag behind Democrat front runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Edwards trailing Clinton by 45 percentage points and Obama by 10 percentage points among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents with household incomes below $20,000.