MAN OF THE HOUR? The feeling coming into this SEIU candidates' forum was that today's event was John Edwards' to win or lose. But that was before Barack Obama truly blew the crowd away earlier this afternoon. Edwards isn't going to be able to match Obama's energy -- the Senator from Illinois was in rare form today. But Edwards is passionate: "I will say this very plain and simple. I will be the president who walks out on the White House lawn and first, says the word 'union'...and I will tell you this, I will say it openly in front of the media for the world to hear, I intend to be the best union president in the history of the United States of America." Edwards moves on to health care, saying that unlike some of his competitors, he won't give industry lobbyists a seat at the table, because they're likely to "eat all the food." HUGE rounds of applause as he promises, for the second time this week, to submit a bill rescinding health coverage for members of Congress if they don't pass universal health care by July 2009. Edwards talks about banning mandatory overtime, an issue no other candidate discussed today. Now the crowd is screaming in agreement every 30 seconds or so. When he talks about low wages -- $5. 73 an hour, for example -- the audience "boos" and he ad libs, "Correct response!" Cute. Now they're chanting his name. --Dana Goldstein
