The audience in the Marriott Wardman Park ballroom is, on paper, John Edwards’ kind of crowd. The kind where Dennis Kucinch can denounce NAFTA and get a standing ovation; where he can assert that Democrats lost Congress in 1994 because of President Clinton’s support of free trade, where “buy America or bye-bye America” is an applause line.

Edwards was smooth, once again, but I didn’t get that “wow” factor in the earlier appearance.

“Your cause is personal to me,” he began. “My mother and father have health care because of the union. My only brother has health care because of the union… Don’t you think it’s about time to have a President of United States who will explain to American people that collective bargaining built the middle class? Don’t you think it’s about time to have a President of United States who understands that if you can join the Republican party or Democratic party by signing name to a card, you should be able to join a union by signing a name to a card?”

Edwards said the minimum wage should be $7.50 per hour and indexed for inflation.

When asked by Matthews if he feared that there could be intimidation on the union side if card check were passed, Edwards declared flatly, “No. The intimidation I fear is from person who pays their check.”

In a long riff on making America “a force for good in the world again” (some of us think it already is), Edwards asked, “What if we took the $500 billion we’re spending in Iraq, and suppose we decided to make primary school education available to 100 million children around the world, in Africa, Asia, Latin America? What if we took the lead in sanitation, providing clean drinking water – by itself, that would have enormous impact on third world places in Africa! … We are not the country of Abu Gharib, Guantanamo, torture, spying on Americans… On my first day in office, I will close Guantanamo.”

Without mentioning her by name, Edwards hit Hillary on the widespread perception that she would hurt down-ticket Democrats in red states.

“We need someone who can campaign in Kentucky, we need someone who can campaign in Indiana, need someone who can campaign in, let me see… North Carolina! We need someone who can go anywhere so that we can strengthen our presence in governorships, and in state legislatures and in Congress.”