NCAE backs Edwards' White House bid

RALEIGH -- The N.C. Association of Educators has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' White House bid, the third time the organization has backed one of his campaigns for federal office.

The association, which represents 70,000 educators and retirees in Edwards' home state, said his "comprehensive education plans" will help the Democrat compete in battleground states.

"We think that he is the one person on the ground talking about the pocketbook issues that affect working families," NCAE president Eddie Davis said today. "John Edwards has a vision."

The NCAE vote to back Edwards took place Monday. The group also supported Edwards in his successful 1998 campaign for U.S. Senate and his 2004 presidential run.

Edwards has proposed a variety of plans to increase teacher pay and reduce classroom sizes in successful high-poverty schools, overhaul the federal No Child Left Behind education law and implement an early childhood education program for all 4-year-olds.

For the past two years in rural Greene County, he's tested a "College for Everyone" program that pays the first-year bills for college students. He wants to take that effort nationwide with an $8 billion program.

Though Edwards has also earned the endorsement of all seven of North Carolina's Democratic members of Congress, polling in his home state indicates voters aren't as enthusiastic. An Elon University poll released last month found that New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had 37 percent of support among Democrats. Edwards and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama held 18 percent each.