John Edwards says his presidential campaign is based on a lesson he learned as a little boy living in a tough Carolina mill town.

He told a Des Moines crowd Monday that he came home crying and bloody after another kid beat him up. His father sat him down and gave him a lasting piece of advice. "He said, 'Listen, son, don't ever start a fight. I don't want to hear about you starting fights. But you never, ever, ever walk away from a fight. And I want you to go out there tomorrow, and I want you to find that kid who kicked your butt, and I want you to kick his butt. I want you to fight with everything you've got,'" he said.

Four years ago, Edwards ran for president as a little-known North Carolina senator with a fresh smile and centrist positions. This time, he is a well-known Democrat running as the champion of working Americans. And he promises to kick butt against corporate powers he says have commandeered the country.

"We have an epic fight in front of us. An epic fight," he declared Monday as his audience cheered. "That epic fight is for the promise of America. That fight is for the future of our children and for their children."