Edwards takes on potential Republican Presidential frontrunner John McCain on his Iraq doctrine.

Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, targeting a potential Republican rival in 2008, dubbed plans for a short-term U.S. troop increase in Iraq "the McCain doctrine," in an interview aired on Sunday.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, considered likely to be a Republican candidate for president, has been "the most prominent spokesperson for this for some time," Edwards said in an early salvo of the 2008 campaign.

"I actually, myself, believe that this idea of surging troops, escalating the war -- what Senator McCain has been talking about -- what I would call now the McCain doctrine ... (is) dead wrong," said Edwards.

This is exactly what Edwards needs to do. He needs to define his position as clearly as possible without getting locked into an Iraq strategy of his own. If any of the other presidential hopefuls describe their plan for Iraq they will watch as it is attacked and ridiculed in the press and used by his political opponents.

The best answer is to say that the Bush plan clearly has not worked and it is time for the best political and military minds in this country to get together and make some hard decisions.

Then Edwards can say that he would not be able to provide a difinitive answer until he had access to the data that the White House has been keeping under wraps. This is where the Democrats new subpoena power will come in handy.

But Edwards must stay flexible and quick on his feet until more facts are revealed. I think that there is a ton of information that the Democrats and the public are just not aware of yet.