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John Edwards comes from working folk, just like me. John Edwards worked hard and excelled to get his education, just like me.

John Edwards makes us all proud to be Americans, and those of us from North Carolina are even more proud to claim him, for he represents the best that we can offer America at a time when strong, positive leadership is needed.

I'm from North Carolina, and I stand here humbled, honored, and proud to place in nomination for the office of vice-president of the United States of America, my friend and my senator from the great state of North Carolina: John Edwards.

From education to broadband, from building roads and bridges to supporting the military, Barack Obama is delivering for North Carolina. And he is delivering for America. A growing middle class is the foundation for a strong America.

I grew up very poor in rural Alabama.

We were growing up in West Virginia. Everybody was poor there in the southern part of the state. It was like growing up in the Great Depression from the stories I hear people tell. Everybody was poor and so we didn't know that we were any different from anybody else.

In the depth of the near depression, that he faced when he came in, Barack Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress provided 'recovery funds' that literally kept our classrooms open. Two years ago, these funds saved nearly 20,000 teacher and education jobs - just here in North Carolina.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

When I was a single, working mom with a newborn, I learned just how vital it is to have comprehensive, affordable health care.

President Obama is also standing up for women in North Carolina and across our country. He has helped women fight for equal pay for equal work; he has fought to guarantee that women have access to quality, affordable health care, including making sure that insurance plans cover birth control with no out-of-pocket cost.