LEWISTON – John Edwards is expected in a speech today to outline the Kerry-Edwards plan for fighting the war on terrorism before taking questions on any subject from an estimated audience of 1,000 at the Lewiston Armory, a spokesman said Saturday.

Free tickets will be available until 2:30 p.m. today at 110 Lisbon St. and at Portland headquarters until 2 p.m., the campaign said. They also can be reserved online at www.johnkerry.com/Lewiston. By 4 p.m. Saturday, “hundreds” of tickets had been gobbled up, said Jesse Derris, campaign spokesman in Maine.

“It’s open to everybody,” Derris said. Nobody would be told to provide personal information or asked questions about political party affiliation or a preferred candidate, he said.

The so-called town hall forum titled: “Making America Safer and Stronger” is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at the 65 Central Ave. building. A “special guest” also will be there, said Derris, who declined to reveal the guest’s identity.

Police said event-goers should plan to arrive early because parking at the armory and surrounding side streets is limited. Lt. Thomas Avery said Saturday his department had been working since 9 a.m. coordinating logistics with Secret Service agents in town for the event. A beefed-up local police roster has been assigned to provide additional security detail during Edwards’ visit, Avery said. He said he had heard of any planned protests.

Edwards, who was in Maine three weeks ago for a campaign stop at the University of Maine in Orono, has a special connection to this city, Derris said. Edwards’ roots sprout from a North Carolina town where he worked in the mills before becoming a trial lawyer.

“John Edwards gets what’s going on in this city,” Derris said. “He’s lived through times where he didn’t know how his family was going to survive from one day to the next. And like a lot of people in Maine and around the country, he was the first one in his family to go to college. He really is an American success story.”

Edwards will talk about his and presidential running mate John Kerry’s strategy for winning the Iraq war and the need to refocus American military efforts on the war on terrorism, such as hunting down and killing Osama Bin Laden and wiping out al-Qaida, Derris said.

President Bush was in Maine on Thursday in Bangor. Lewiston and Bangor are the biggest cities in state’s 2nd Congressional District, where the two presidential candidates are reported to be running in a statistical dead heat and where Democrat Al Gore eked out a victory in 2000.

Edwards is scheduled to fly into Portland this afternoon from Detroit, where he is expected to attend church services. After the Lewiston event, he will drive back to Portland, then fly to Manchester, N.H., for a Monday campaign event.

In an effort to capture the youth vote, Teresa Heinz Kerry’s son Chris planned to visit Maine colleges Monday and Tuesday, promoting the campaign’s proposed $4,000 tax break for young people attending college and expanded funding for Pell grants.” His trips will include the following stops:

• University of Southern Maine, Portland, Monday, 10 a.m.

• Bates College, 56 Campus Ave. cafeteria, Lewiston, Monday, noon

• Colby College, Waterville, Monday, 2:15 p.m., and

• University of Maine, Orono, Tuesday, 9:45 p.m.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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