Former US senator John Edwards said on Saturday he is "definitely in the race for the duration" as he sought to reassure supporters who may be worried that he cannot balance a presidential campaign with his wife's cancer diagnosis.
"I know because of the nature of the woman I'm married to that she will be there every single step of the way to make sure that I do it," said the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2004. "And we take our responsibility to serving this country very seriously."
Edwards spoke at a presidential candidate forum sponsored by the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a Washington-based policy group.
The event was focused on health care, and the candidates split over whether the Democratic priority of providing health care for all Americans would require a tax increase. Edwards said any politician who says they can provide universal health care and other promises while ending the federal deficit are not being honest.
"They've probably got a bridge in Brooklyn they want to sell you, too," Edwards said to laughter and applause. "I just don't think it can be done."
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, however, said he could provide universal care in his first year as president without raising taxes. Senators Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois did not rule out a tax increase, but said they are committed to covering the estimated 47 million people in the US without coverage.
"I have not foreclosed the possibility that we might need additional revenue in order to achieve my goal, but we shouldn't underestimate the amount of money that can be saved in the existing system," Obama said.
"I can tell you I will do whatever it takes," he added.
Clinton said she cannot see putting more money into what she described as a current broken system. She said she is committed to succeeding where she failed in passing improvements to health care in her husband's first term in the White House.
"We're going to change the way we finance the system by taking away money from people who are doing well now," she said. Asked who that was, she mentioned insurance companies.
Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd said his plan would require a tax increase by repealing US President George W. Bush's cuts to top income-earners.
The forum came two days after the Democratic field got the news that Edwards planned to stay in the race while his wife, Elizabeth, fights the breast cancer that they learned has spread to her bone.
Edwards pointed out his wife, who sat in the front row, and said they both understand that dealing with their personal struggle will require "a focus and a maturity."
Edwards said he and his wife are getting too much credit for forging ahead when millions of women are enduring the same struggle and the additional worry of getting the necessary care.
"One of the reasons that I want to be president of the United States is to make sure that every woman and every person in America gets the same things that we have," Edwards said.
His plan would require employers to provide insurance and individuals to have it at a cost of US$90 billion to US$120 billion.
No other candidate has given a cost estimate. Richardson said his plan would include a tax credit for low-income people who need coverage and prevention strategies such as a nationwide smoking ban like the one he signed in New Mexico.
He said he would pay for his plan in large part by ending the war in Iraq and shifting the military spending to human needs -- an idea that won loud applause.
"You have to do them both at the same time, you have to control costs and you have to expand coverage," Richardson said. "What I proposed is some new ideas within an existing system."
Video of the candidate forum was fed live over the Internet. The moderator, Time magazine's Karen Tumulty, took questions from Internet viewers as well as prescreened questions from union members in the audience.
Obama said he would have a detailed plan in a couple months, after he has a chance to discuss it further with experts and front-line workers.
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