RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – John Edwards is still talking like someone running for president, and for him that means talking about poverty in America.

But while he got good reviews for his recently unveiled plan to help every student in a rural North Carolina county go to college, some wonder if the former senator needs to move outside his comfort zone and start talking about other issues – such as the war in Iraq and rising gas prices – if he’s serious about another bid for the White House.

“The question of whether (poverty) is sufficient is answered with the question … When is the last time you saw John Edwards on the evening news?”‘ said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. “I think the answer is, It’s been awhile.”‘

As he did during his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, and during his time as Sen. John Kerry’s running mate, Edwards is focused on his message that America needs to do more to help the poor escape poverty.

He’s the director of the Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina law school and has crisscrossed the country to speak on the topic. This month alone he plans to visit 10 universities to encourage young people to do more to eliminate poverty.

Last month, he announced a pilot program in eastern North Carolina’s Greene County that stems from “Two Americas,” the anti-poverty message on which he based his 2004 campaign. The program will allow 140 students to go to their first year of college for free if they meet certain criteria.

“We need to make sure that all of you, and in fact all of our young people, get the same kind of chances that I’ve had in my life. That’s why I take this all very, very personally,” Edwards, the son of a mill worker, told the high school seniors.

But Jillson cautions poverty isn’t an issue that wins national elections because low-income Americans are the least likely to vote.

In a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released Wednesday, Edwards was a distant second to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democrats surveyed on their preference for 2008. Edwards was tied with Kerry at 14 percent, well behind Clinton’s 42 percent.

Edwards is quick to deflect questions about whether he plans a 2008 presidential bid, saying “there’ll be plenty of time to talk about that later” when asked about his future while introducing the college tuition program in Greene County.

But Edwards has already has spent plenty of time in two states with early presidential primaries. He’s been to New Hampshire three times this year and to Iowa four times since the 2004 election. In a September visit to Iowa, Edwards was the keynote speaker at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual fundraiser, one of the year’s largest gathering of Democrats in Iowa.

Phil Roeder, who runs a public relations firm in Iowa and is active in Democratic politics in the state, said poverty is not a bad issue on which to focus.

“Is it enough to get yourself elected president? Probably not. Is it enough to at least give you a unique platform during what is obviously a down time in the election cycle right now?” Roeder said. “I think it makes a lot of sense.”

And not everything has a rank political calculation, said Michael Munger, chairman of the political science department at Duke University. The free college program “seemed sort of nice and it’s a nice philanthropic gesture, but it doesn’t fit with someone” who is trying to build up his foreign policy knowledge, a frequent critique of Edwards during his 2004 campaign.

“He doesn’t know anything about foreign policy and this doesn’t help,” Munger said. “I think it’s fairly possible that he just thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

Edwards’ team is quick to point out the work he’s done in foreign policy. He was recently in Moscow as part of his role as co-chair of a Council on Foreign Relations task force looking at U.S. relations with Russia. He met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Britain’s treasury chief, Gordon Brown, earlier this year, and a trip to India is planned.

And others experienced with presidential politics aren’t as quick to dismiss Edwards’ continued talk about poverty. It was, after all, the key issue of a campaign that successfuly made the first-term senator from North Carolina a known commodity nationwide, said New Hampshire Democratic state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro.

That, he said, puts Edwards in a good position for the future

As president, “you’ve got to run this nation,” D’Allesandro said. “People have got to believe that you have their interests at heart.”

On the Net:

John Edwards: http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/

End ADV for Oct. 9-10