Singer: In case there are some folks particularly on MyDD who maybe were absent during the last cycle when Matt was writing so much about your race or missed Matt's write up of your race just a couple of weeks ago, what's the argument? Why does Al Wynn, someone who's a Democrat - this is a Democratic district - why does he need to go?

Edwards: First of all, let's be clear - it is solidly Democratic district. So what that means in our district is that we can actually have one of the most progressive Democrats in the Congress.

And instead we have the reverse. We have somebody who during the time of the Bush administration has voted with the President on really key issues, more conservative than this district deserves. He supported the President on the authorization to go to war when many of our Congresspeople here in Maryland actually didn't support that authorization. He supported the President on the energy bill that gave billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil and gas companies the other Democrats in our district didn't support that. He supported bankruptcy reform, which rewards credit card companies over consumers. The Democrats in our district didn't support that. He supported a repeal of the estate tax, which took $50 billion out of the treasury benefiting one half of one percent of income earners.

That's not our district. We don't just need any Democrat. It matters what kind of Democrat we have. We need Democrats who are going to be leaders, who are going to stand out in front for the American people and for the people of the fourth district, and Al Wynn's not that guy.

Singer: So now that we've gotten a bit of a picture of why Al Wynn isn't the guy, why are you that woman? Why are you the person that should represent Maryland's fourth district?

Edwards: Because I'm a leader. I think that the country and our district is crying for leadership. I've been a leader on campaign finance and ethics reform. I've been a leader on ending violence against women. I've been a leader in my community in stopping bad development and fighting for mass transportation. I've been a leader on the environment. And if I could lead on all of those things outside of the United States Congress, no telling what will happen inside the United States Congress.

Singer: And can you explain... The vast majority of the netroots don't live in Maryland, or even specifically in your district. Why should it matter to them personally?

Edwards: It should matter to people around the country because it matter what kind of caucus we have as Democrats. Because it doesn't do us any good - and we've seen this now on the vote on the war, we'll see it as we're coming up on fast track reauthorization, we see it coming up on telecommunications policy that impacts the internet - is that it's important what kind of Democrats we have in that caucus. And if we continue to have this solid group of moderate to conservative Democrats in the caucus, then whether or not the Democrats have the majority it won't be a truly governing majority.

Nancy Pelosi should not have to whip a vote from the fourth congressional district.

Singer: You brought up an issue that's important to a lot of us, and that's net neutrality. How does your position differ from that of Congressman Wynn?

Edwards: It's very clear. Congressman Wynn has been in effect a shill for the telecommunications company. In my day job I run a foundation, the Arca Foundation, that's actually invested a lot of resources in changing media and telecommunications policy so that it really expands access - the idea of expanding access to the internet for all of us and keeping it as free as it is for people who want to communicate and who want to create.

I think that that's the wave of the future. So we can't set us up down a road of a telecommunications policy that in effect allows big telecommunications companies to govern what we see, what we experience and what we create on the internet.

Singer: You also brought up Iraq as an area that could be different. What steps would you be taking let's say during this Congress had you won the primary this time? And moreover what steps would you be taking starting January 2009 were you to defeat Congressman Wynn in the primary this cycle?

Edwards:Let me just say this. Congressman Wynn has changed his position on Iraq full circle, going from supporting the authorization to now supporting the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Let me just say I was for not having troops there in the first place and since the troops have been there strongly support an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

It's not enough to be a part of the Out of Iraq caucus - one has to be a strong voice to end our engagement in Iraq. And I think that that's what's missing. And that's what I mean about leadership. You can have somebody out there who's kind of blowing with the wind like a weather vane or you can have somebody like me who's a real leader who will stand up, call for that vote every single time, doing like our colleagues in the Congress did during Vietnam. Not just once or twice, bringing up the vote to withdraw the troops, but doing it as many as 40 times until it actually happens. That's the kind of leader I am.

Singer: In terms of the policy side of it, is there a difference let's say on residual forces. Are you in favor of bringing out all American forces save for those protecting the embassy? Or do you feel that there can be a residual force within Iraq?

Edwards: All across the world wherever there is an embassy - and I know this well because my father was in the Air Force and we were sometimes stationed near embassies - there is always a small military contingent that comes with an embassy. That's very different form having wartime force levels in Iraq. So I would be in favor of pulling out all of those forces, having whatever limited military presence there might be in conjunction with an embassy, because that happens all over the world.

And more than that, what is needed in Iraq right now is a diplomatic and an economic solution to Iraq to stabilize it, not a military solution to stabilize Iraq. And I think the longer United States forces are there, particularly with the scope and the presence of the forces that we have right now, we don't have a chance to get to those economic and diplomatic solutions.

Singer: You talked a little bit about the path to the nomination, working hard this summer to create the infrastructure, working productively over the fall. Can you get into a little more of that? Getting the nomination, are you going to have debates, how can people get involved, things like that?

Edwards: There's several things. First of all, I think one of the major differences between this run and my last run, which was the first time I had run for elective office besides running for 11th grade president, but one of the major differences is that I'm going to hire a campaign manager this time. Last time I managed my own campaign. And I think that that's actually been a tremendous difference in the way that we're able to organize all the terrific people who want to volunteer.

We're able to use volunteers whether or not they are in the immediate Washington, DC metropolitan area. Certainly people who live here can volunteer by coming into an office that we're going to open next week. They can table at grocery stores and at festivals and at parades. We need people who can make phone calls.

And you can make those phone calls in your home in California or New York or Montana as well as you can make those phone calls out of our office or in your home locally. So that's a great help to us. And in our last campaign we had people as far away as California making telephone calls for us. So we're able to use the greatest capacity that we have from the full netroots for all of us progressives around the country who want to make a change in the country.

And I think that's really important. This is a national campaign. This isn't just about what happens in the fourth congressional district. And obviously for people who are here or if you're traveling here, come spend a week with us. We can put you to work. There's plenty to do.

We're going to raise a lot of money. We need to raise a lot of money to win this campaign. But winning an election for the people is not just about money. It's about engaging all of us in a conversation about the direction of our country and the direction of our congressional district. And I want to do that. It's not just the type of campaigner I'll be - it's the type of leader I'll be.

By the way, we will be challenging - in fact you'll hear it first - but we've challenged Mr. Wynn to five debates over the course of the next eight months in this campaign because we want to talk about issues. This is not about robocalls and television ads and dueling press releases, it's about the direction of our country.

Singer: Final question. We've been talking a lot about the netroots. I know that you were at the Yearly Kos fundraiser last week in DC and I'm not sure if you'll be at Yearly Kos or not.

Edwards: I'm planning to.

Singer: But generally what's the one take home message that you'd like to send to the netroots today?

Edwards: I think the netroots has changed the way that we conduct campaigns for public office. And I think that's a good thing. Because what excited me is we have campaigns now that are about small donors, campaigns that are about issues, campaigns that are about engaging real people in a conversation about the direction of our country. And I can lay that at the feet of the netroots for engaging us, using new technology and new media in a way that never has happened before. And that is a bonus for grassroots candidates like me.

Singer: Terrific. Well thank you so much for your time and good luck in your campaign.

Edwards: Thanks. And stay in touch with me, okay?

Singer: Will do.

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