John Edwards "created a nonprofit organization with the stated mission of fighting poverty" that became a big part of his early efforts to run for president again, reports the New York Times' Leslie Wayne. The organization's officers were members of his political staff. It "helped pay for his nearly constant travel, including to early primary states" and seminars with foreign policy experts. The organization had no limits on donations and didn't mandate disclosure of who the donors were.

Edwards campaign said he had to travel to fight poverty and that "it's patently absurd to suggest there's anything wrong with an organization designed to raise awareness about poverty actually working to raise awareness about poverty. ... Perish the thought: people involved in politics actually trying to improve peoples' lives." The campaign has declined to disclose the amounts spent or raised by the nonprofit organization and Edwards' poverty center at the University of North Carolina.

Meanwhile, The Hill's Sam Youngman reports the Edwards campaign sent an fundraising e-mail yesterday telling supporters the campaign is two-thirds of the way to a $9 million fundraising goal for this quarter -- $5 million less than the previous quarter. Of course it wouldn't be "unheard of for a campaign to try and lowball its fundraising expectations...."

In California this weekend Edwards will attend a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Democratic Pride Breakfast, the first appearance of a major candidate or spouse at the San Francisco Gay Pride festivities," reports the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci.

Barack Obama is running well among high-earning and highly educated Democrats, writes the Associated Press' Alan Fram. However, Obama is losing to Hillary Clinton by a 4-to-1 margin with Democrats earning less than $25,000 and 3-to-1 against those who haven't attended college, according to a recent AP/Ipsos poll. Obama's weaker showing is "partly because many people are not yet following a race in which voting doesn't start for seven months. That gives Clinton an early edge because virtually everyone has heard of her."

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney said America must move beyond a War on Terror that's still a reaction to 9/11 and instead "execute a global strategy for security and peace." That strategy would use a force made of Army special forces and intelligence personnel to work with foreign governments to remove terrorists from their countries. A national summit would work to ensure that "threatened Islamic states had public schools, not Wahhabi madrassas, micro-credit and banking, the rule of law, human rights, basic health care and competitive economic policies," Romney said.

In Florida, Rudy Giuliani greeted more than 250 Cuban-American supporters where he praised the community, touted endorsements from Hispanic officials and railed against Fidel Castro, the Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard reports. About 15 percent of the voters in a GOP primary in Florida are Cuban-American, "according to Bendixen & Associates, a Miami-based polling firm that specializes in the Hispanic vote."

In Michigan, John McCain said he expects to see progress on immigration reform in the Senate before Tuesday and said fuel economy standards for the auto industry need to be raised after the Senate voted to do so yesterday, reports the Detroit News' Jonnelle Marte. McCain said he hoped the industry would raise standards themselves, because "they realize that unless they do it voluntarily it's going to be imposed on them," he said, adding it would be hard for the federal government to treat domestic and foreign companies different regarding the standards.

Get these and today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.