NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (search) ventured into "the other" America on Saturday, poking fun at himself and his audience of well-heeled Democrats in a speech at a fund-raiser at an exclusive resort near the ocean.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (search) and Edwards are both multi-millionaires, but both have portrayed themselves as more able to help the average American than the present Republican administration.
Edwards recalled his well-received "two Americas" stump speech, one for the rich, one for everybody else, that he made repeatedly during the Democratic primaries.
"Some of you saw during the presidential primaries or heard me talk about one America where people struggle to get by, have trouble paying their bills, can't save any money. This is the other America we're in right here in this beautiful place," he told his well-heeled Democratic audience at the Balboa Bay Club.
On his way from Los Angeles to Newport Beach, Edwards stopped at the Good Stuff Restaurant in El Segundo and greeted about two dozen people having lunch. When one male diner exhorted Edwards to win, Edwards flashed a thumbs-up and said, "We're going to win, we're going to."
Edwards has raised roughly $1 million between a fund-raiser in Los Angeles on Friday and the Orange County one on Saturday in Newport Beach. The money will be split between the Kerry-Edwards campaign and the Democratic National Committee (search).
Edwards was heading next to Florida, where he will campaign on Sunday in the Orlando and Miami areas.
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