Edwards Ramps Up Criticism of His Rivals

HANOVER, N.H. — A former North Carolina senator and presidential hopeful, John Edwards, said yesterday that the Washington establishment is corrupt and suggested — without mentioning her by name — that one his rivals, Senator Clinton, has been part of that corroded system.

Mr. Edwards's new stump speech, centered on a need for change and aimed at his top two rivals, comes just before Labor Day, the traditional start of the primary nominating season in this state where he has seen his polling lead slip in recent months.

"Real change starts with being honest, and I want to say something again: The system in Washington is rigged, and I'll say it again, it's rigged, and it's rigged by greedy powers," Mr. Edwards said yesterday.

"It's rigged by the system to favor the establishment," he said at Dartmouth College.

What Mr. Edwards called "the rhetoric of change" is popular among all the Democratic candidates. Senator Obama uses the notion throughout his campaign. One of Mrs. Clinton's slogans is: "Ready for change, ready to lead." Mr. Edwards challenged his Democratic rivals' ownership of the word at the start a four-day swing through New Hampshire. "The American people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale. The Lincoln Bedroom is not for rent," Mr. Edwards said to applause, referencing a Clinton-era controversy in which high-dollar donors were allowed to stay in the White House's famed bedroom. Mr. Edwards said the past isn't going to solve today's problems or "a corrupt a corroded system." "Those wed to the policies of the '70s, '80s, or the '90s are wedded to the past, ideas and policies that are tired, shopworn, and obsolete. We will find no answers there," he said.