Jackson Browne Campaigns for Edwards

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WEST DES MOINES — Jackson Browne says that Democrat John Edwards is the most progressive candidate with a chance at winning the White House, and that he would do the most for working-class Americans.

"It's a challenge to hook yourself up to what a politician says he's going to do, and see if he's going to do it," the singer-songwriter said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I think it's a really critical time in our country and our world, and I think that working people need a champion, and I think that John Edwards is that person."

Famous for hits including "Running on Empty" and "The Pretender," Browne will be joined by Grammy Award-winning colleague Bonnie Raitt next week at five of Edwards' campaign stops in Iowa.

The two are co-founders of Musicians United For Safe Energy, along with Graham Nash and John Hall. In 1979, the group played a series of "No-Nukes" concerts, drumming up activism to thwart the spread of nuclear power. The group now works through Nukefree.org and opposes a federal bailout of the nuclear energy industry.

Edwards frequently says he wants to expand safe, renewable fuels opportunities and would oppose the construction of more nuclear power plants.

Browne said he met Edwards a few months ago and was drawn to the former North Carolina senator's magnetic personality and populist views.

He said Edwards is "certainly the most progressive of the candidates that have a chance" at winning the presidency. He said that Edwards had the best solutions for the war Iraq, health care and nuclear power, and that he would faithfully represent working Americans.

"He comes from working-class origins; he's a person who is a self-made man and worked hard to get where he is," Browne said.

Browne hasn't had much experience campaigning. But he said that, like everyday Americans, "celebrities are concerned about the future of our country, our role in the world and finding the answers to the problems this country faces."

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