On October 4th, 12:30 pm CDT, at the Columbus Belmont State Park located in Columbus, Kentucky, presidential candidate John Edwards will conduct a town hall meeting to discuss the issues facing rural America. It is expected that voters from West Kentucky, West Tennessee, Southern Illinois, and Southeastern Missouri will be on hand to give the former North Carolina U.S. Senator their views on how rural America is “down for the count.”

Typically, rural town hall meetings are free wheeling and open to all comers. With free BBQ lunch on the grounds for the first 500, the Columbus Town Hall Meeting has the makings of an old fashioned revival to talk about rural isolation, loss of manufacturing jobs, barriers to telecommunications, bad roads, costly higher college education and the health care crisis in America. Columbus, Kentucky is a small village of just over 200 people. Their major concerns are all about day-to-day survival. Senior citizens make up most of the population. Higher utility costs and water quality are just two of the pressing issues they face each day.

Edwards will have a chance to see first hand that the poverty of Eastern Kentucky or inner city Memphis can be matched by the hidden face of 21st Century poverty of the Upper Delta Mississippi River region.