Obama taking on rural challenges

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Barack Obama wants to hear about the challenges facing rural communities.

The Democratic presidential candidate plans a rural policy summit in Iowa in mid-August that will focus on rural economic development, quality of life and agriculture and renewable energy policy.

"People in the rural economies suffer from many of the things people do all across the country," he said in a telephone interview Friday with The Associated Press.

He noted common problems with health care access, failing school systems and lack of livable wages. But the Illinois senator said there are unique issues that must be addressed as well.

He mentioned spotty rural broadband and wireless coverage, underfunded community colleges and a need to make the most of the growing alternative energy industry.

"We've got to provide, I think, some seed money to help boost not just the production, but also the distribution of alternative fuels," he said. "We've got to train people to have the skills" that are needed in those new industries.

Some Democratic rivals, including former Sen. John Edwards, have released plans for rural development.

Although rural America long has been a stronghold for Republicans, Obama said Democrats have made major strides in rural areas.

"Obviously, rural communities and agricultural regions often times are politically more conservative, but part of that has to do with positions on social issues more than it has to do with economic issues," he said.

"I think Democrats have come to understand that on issues of faith, on respecting the rights of sportsmen and hunters ... we haven't always listened as much as we should have. We're getting, I think, a much better sense of what's required and what's important to win over rural America."

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Sunday he plans to get in on a well-known Iowa bike race, cycling this week with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Edwards will join Armstrong and thousands of other cyclists in Hampton on Wednesday — the fourth day of the weeklong, 472-mile Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

The former North Carolina senator said that he and his wife, Elizabeth, who has breast cancer, have admired Armstrong for his work against the disease. Armstrong survived testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.

"I am looking forward to joining with him and so many other RAGBRAI riders to call attention to this important cause," Edwards said.

Armstrong has become politically active as a cancer activist since retiring from professional cycling. He plans presidential candidate forums on cancer next month in Cedar Rapids.

"For me personally, it's just to make sure that whatever candidates we have now, and then ultimately the two who want to be president, discuss the No. 1 killer in this country, just like they would discuss war or terror or taxes," Armstrong said in a video statement on his foundation Web site.

"I think whoever wants to be commander in chief ought to answer the cancer question," Armstrong said.

(This version CORRECTS SUBS graf 3 to correct that interview happened Friday.)

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070722/ap_on_el_pr/on_the2008_trail [link]