M aybe it was his dashing good looks that hooked us. Or that charming accent and toothy smile. But whatever it was, John Edwards piqued our interest, and a further examination of his policies and ideas proved him to be more than a well-to-do baby-faced lawyer from North Carolina.

The prospect of a free year of college is pretty tempting to a bunch of loan-saddled, ramen-eating students. He also wants students to teach after graduation for five years in needy areas, promising to pay for their college tuition if they do. It’s like a nationalization of Teach for America. Who could argue with that?

Edwards also has practical plans for school districts suffering from teacher shortages. Instead of skirting the public school system with vouchers, Edwards actually wants to invest in those districts, doubling the $3 billion that the federal government currently invests in teacher training.

As part of his rural revitalization plan, Edwards would offer simplified, one-page federal grant applications for small grants to towns and counties of fewer than 50,000 residents — just in case your hometown of 400 doesn’t have full-time professional grantwriters to secure federal money.

He would also enact the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge, which would invest in bringing capital to small towns, offering training and support to entrepreneurs in rural areas.

Edwards would also eliminate massive subsidies the federal government gives to corporate farms with incomes more than $1 million. That’s music to our ears, and hopefully to those of small farmers as well.

In response to President Bush’s recent immigration proposal, Edwards had the guts to lambast the true ramifications of the proposal, pointing out the plan would move millions of people into a second-class status with no real promise of citizenship.

Real immigration reform, he said, would ensure that hard-working immigrants could become permanent members of the American community.

And yes, he supported the war. But he wants to involve both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in establishing a free Iraqi government, to ensure that Iraqi people — not a puppet government — shape Iraq’s future. He probably won’t make many friends in the oil industry by saying this, but Edwards also wants to ensure Iraq’s oil reserves aren’t exploited by the United States or other countries.

He may not have the flash of Howard Dean, the war— hero story of John Kerry or the political experience of Dick Gephardt. But sometimes, policy and substance triumph over everything else, and that’s why we chose to endorse John Edwards.