'Last Monday, people began lining up outside of the All Saints Church in Pasadena, California at 1:30 PM to see John Edwards -- who wasn't scheduled to appear until the evening. When the church couldn't fit all 700 audience members into the same room as Edwards, guests willingly watched telecasts that were set up in two other rooms. "It had the feeling of a campaign event," Parish Administrator Christina Honchell told me. "There was a feeling of celebration in the air because of the change in Congress."

'That evening, Edwards appeared at ease wearing jeans and an open-collared shirt. After speaking briefly about his new book, Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, Edwards opened the floor for questions, which ranged from the economy to health care to, inevitably, the war in Iraq. The crowd reached a fever pitch when Susan Russell, an All Saints priest, asked what hope there could be for parents who preach peace in wartime but whose children are fighting in Iraq. (Russell's own son is currently serving in Tikrit.) Edwards' response was notable. As he has for a while now, he blamed himself explicitly for having voted to authorize the war, and emphasized his proposal to decrease the number of troops significantly and immediately through redeployment, to be followed eventually by a complete withdrawal from the country.'


American Prospect article