Edwards criticizes Bush policy on taxes, terrorism Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., speaks at the Holy Redeemer Church in Milwaukee, Sunday, June 1, 2003. (AP Photo/Darren Hauck) By ARNIE STAPLETON Associated Press Writer MILWAUKEE (AP) - Presidential hopeful John Edwards criticized President Bush for his policies on taxes and terrorism in a campaign stop at a black Pentecostal church Sunday. The North Carolina Democratic senator said the federal government should do more to help states and cities during these hard economic times and also offer to pay college tuition for education majors who promise to teach in a chronically disadvantaged area. Edwards was the second presidential candidate to visit Wisconsin during the weekend. Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich proclaimed himself the most progressive of Democratic candidates in a stop Saturday night in Madison. The state suddenly is critical to candidates because a new state law bumped Wisconsin's presidential primary from April to Feb. 17. Edwards told the congregation at the Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God and Christ in Milwaukee that Bush has gone too far with his tax cut package. "We shouldn't have spending we can't afford, and we shouldn't have tax cuts that we can't afford, particularly for the people at the top who don't need them," Edwards said. He also contended the president and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft have gone too far with the war on terrorism by trampling civil liberties. "We cannot _ cannot _ in an effort to protect ourselves, in an effort to fight this war on terrorism, allow people like John Ashcroft to take away our rights and our freedoms and our liberties," Edwards said. "Those things go to the heart and soul of what makes this country great." Civil rights and equal rights are at the forefront of his platform, Edwards said. He drew applause when he told the congregation that he filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of the University of Michigan's affirmative action policy. "I believe we have a responsibility ... to lift up and embrace those who today _ not 40 years ago, today _ still suffer the effects of discrimination every minutes of their lives," Edwards said. Edwards said America needs a wider health care net because "in a country of high prosperity, 9 million children with no health care coverage is a national embarrassment." Edwards said the health care system needs an overhaul because "there are not enough tax dollars in America to continue to pay for health care the way costs are escalating every single year. And in order to do it, we're going to have to have a president who's willing to stand up in Washington for the American people and when necessary against the big insurance companies and big HMOs." At a peace rally Saturday, Kucinich said America has reached a crossroads and it was time for the country to end its post Sept. 11 isolation and rejoin the international community. "It is time to put an end to an administration which is promoting war and fear," he said. "The advancing tide in this world is toward human unity. It's not toward separation in the world." Kucinich said the Bush administration could turn its cross hairs on Iran and Syria next if Americans don't vote the president out of office. Traditionally a tossup state, Wisconsin is now among the first third of states to hold their presidential primaries. "Wisconsin is a hard-to-call state," said Dennis Dresang, who teaches political science at UW-Madison. "If you want the Democratic nomination you want to get known here very quickly."