At a campaign appearance in Dover, presidential candidate John Edwards said the tiff between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama is completely wrong for the Democratic Party.

"The last thing we need is two presidential candidates fighting with each other, instead of fighting for the change we need in America," Edwards said. "And, man, do we need change in the worst possible way."

Clinton and Obama have engaged in high-profile criticism of each other since the Democrats debated in South Carolina this week. The two leading candidates have been throwing jabs at each other's answer about whether they would meet with the United States' enemies without preconditions: Clinton - like Edwards - said she would not; Obama said he would.

Since last week's debate in South Carolina, Clinton and Obama have been arguing about how far each would go, as president, to meet with leaders of hostile nations, such as Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.

An Obama spokeswoman disputed Edwards's comments about the Clinton-Obama spat.

"This is a substantive and important debate people want to hear about, whether we are going to turn the page on the Bush-Cheney foreign policy, which has damaged our national security and America's standing in the world," Leslie Miller said.

Edwards in the past has criticized fellow Democrats, particularly on their recent votes on the war in Iraq. During June's CNN debates in New Hampshire, Edwards took aim at Clinton and Obama.

"But I want to finish this. Others did not. Others were quiet. . . . But there is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards said. "Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama did not say anything about how they were going to vote until they appeared on the floor of the Senate and voted. They were among the last people to vote."

During those debates, he then went on to applaud them for their votes against the war, but he faulted them for their silence beforehand.

During his two-day campaign swing through New Hampshire, Edwards also responded to criticism that Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani have thrown at him for proposing an increase in capital gains taxes.

"What I say to Romney and Giuliani is all that money that they're making from their investments - in Romney's case hundreds of millions of dollars - all that money they're making from investments, I want them to pay their fair share of taxes on those investments," Edwards said. "I want them to be treated not better than average Americans."

A Romney spokesman said Edwards missed the point.

"While we'd all like to be able to join Mr. Edwards and laugh off $400 haircuts, Mitt Romney believes that working families should be able to keep more of their money," Craig Stevens said. "By keeping taxes low and eliminating taxes on savings accounts, more people would have more money in their pockets to use for things like a car, retirement, college tuition or a vacation."

------ End of article

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

Single page