Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential hopeful John Edwards, discussed the issues her husband stands for to a standing-room only gathering of ISU Democrats in the Pine Room of the Memorial Union on Thursday.

She fielded questions from the students on topics ranging from Edwards universal health care system, poverty, college tuition, tax cuts and the Iraq War.

“You probably or maybe don’t realize what an advantage it is to be a college Democrat in Iowa. I am proud to be a part of this campaign because it reminds me of why I became a Democrat,” Edwards said.

Throughout the address, Edwards stressed “a transparent campaign” because she believes it is important for voters to support a candidate they really believe in.

“Questions you should be asking yourself are “I’m supporting this candidate because of ‘blank’ or ‘blank.’ I believe in John because he believes he is a part of something bigger than himself, a greater cause,” Edwards said. “His commitment is real, deep and personal.”

In regard to her husband’s universal health care system, she said his plan involves tax roll-backs for people making less than a net income of $200,000, a throwback tax code from the Clinton administration. The plan would complete the roll-back with cutting government programs he has deemed “wasteful,” such as the Office of Thrift Supervision, which would possibly generate income between 90 billion and 120 billion dollars and create money for subsidies for middle class families to have access to Medicaid and Medicare.

Along with the subsidies, the plan would call for employers to put a percentage of payroll income into accounts which would allow employees to choose their healthcare providers. The final leg of the plan includes making current health care providers lower their prices by making them bid to enter a pool that would allow them to provide care to citizens.

“The pool would cause an immediate depression in price because the universal health care plan eliminates things like screenings and works for preventive steps in health care,” Edwards said.

On the question of poverty, Edwards said her husband had an “equality in education” plan, college for everyone, that would “not feed [the poor] for a day, which is short term, but in the long term, which is education.”

The plan would ensure education for the poor through funding community colleges in rural and urban areas and provide a million new housing vouchers for the disadvantaged to move to better school districts. The plan would also effectively eliminate student loan structures for students entering four-year institutions by providing free tuition and books for the first year, freeing up aid for those further along in their college careers.

Edwards also said because the federal government likes to stretch budget dollars, which puts a strain on the state government, the state government basically says “it’s easier to look to [students] than to raise taxes.”

“[But] if you take freshmen out, then scholarship money is increased by one-third,” Edwards said.

After a question about trade policies, Edwards said her husband is in favor of “fair trade, not free trade,” and there has been “a series of trade agreements that haven’t treated us well,” but new trade polices would stress better environmental, labor and human rights standards.

On the subject of the Iraq War, Edwards said her husband’s goals for ending the war are to stop the current troop surge, draw the forces down to 40,000 or 50,000, put a cap on funding for the war, retain enough forces in the country to contain the violence and opening up or stepping up diplomatic efforts to countries such as Iran and Syria.

“The problem is not a military problem, but a political problem,” Edwards said. “Both sides are entrenched and we have to help them to get out from their entrenchments to help each other out. As long as you think it is a military problem, then John’s plan doesn’t make much sense. It’s a political problem.”

Sarah Sunderman, president of the ISU Democrats and senior in liberal studies, helped put the meeting on to aid campaigns.

“As [the] ISU Democrats’ president, I don’t actually support any candidates, but I like to do whatever it takes to help out campaigns, or in this case, the wives of candidates,” Sunderman said.