Edwards attacks Kerry ahead of Super Tuesday

FIGHTING against time and his inability to move to the top of polls in Super Tuesday states, John Edwards sharply attacked front-runner John Kerry as a Washington practitioner of politics as usual.

The North Carolina senator abandoned his mostly congenial style in a Democratic debate on Sunday in New York a mostly two-way face-off that had contenders Dennis Kucinich and Al Sharpton grousing about too little airtime.

Of 10 contests scheduled today, Mr Edwards already has virtually ceded the four New England states to Mr Kerry and stands little chance of victory in the biggest battlegrounds, New York and California, or in Maryland. That leaves Georgia, Ohio, Minnesota as his targets and polls show him trailing in all.