Flint, Michigan, by KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer (from Yahoo News): "He took that word and distorted and tried to use it to argue John Kerry will not keep the American people safe," Edwards said. "He's talking about a man who still carries shrapnel in his body. He's talking about a man who spilled his blood for the United States of America."That's an incredible statement. Either: Edwards knows from Kerry that Kerry's military medical records will never be released thus preventing a challenge to his PHs - or Edwards, just maybe, is undermining Kerry's campaign by throwing red meat to the anti-Kerry swiftboat vets.From all accounts of Kerry's "wounds" in Vietnam, including his biography, the statement is patently false.

Did Edwards have Kerry's permission to say something like that? Is it a naked appeal for sympathy votes? The swiftboat vets will probably have their reaction to it.

No doubt. Pity there isn't anything more to Edwards than a pretty face.

I'm beginning to sense that Edwards may be chaffing a bit as Kerry's running mate. He knows that he was picked by the DNC and not Kerry. Kerry favored Tom Vilsack, the Iowa governor, and might resent Edwards being picked as the "pretty face" and to provide a little charisma to the campaign. You only have to go back to the Dem primaries to see that there's no love lost between the two.

Edwards also knows that he'll only get a large closet for his office if Kerry is elected. That's Teresa's style and everybody knows by now that she'll have more power than him.