I heard this report on NPR this morning while getting ready for work and was inspired. I’m not only encouraged that poverty is finally getting on the national agenda; I also found this particular report to be almost poetic. At our candidates forum on CNN, John Edwards made a commitment to keep poverty on the political agenda in this presidential election, and he is following through on his commitment.
From today’s NPR segment by Dee Davis, who directs the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg, Kentucky:

This week, presidential candidate John Edwards is coming to retrace the RFK visit. I wish they were all coming. These things matter. It is not about party; it’s about eyeballs. And there are sights that need seeing. …
People will tell you government doesn’t work. But I’ve seen it work. It starts with somebody showing up and making an effort. I have also seen it fail. Mostly that happens when no one’s paying attention.

Davis (who was a high school Republican when Bobby Kennedy came through Kentucky in 1968) is right—this isn’t about party, it’s about real people and places becoming part of our national political conversation.