PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards took another tentative step into the public spotlight Tuesday, speaking at Brown University about extreme poverty around the world and urging Americans to get involved in what he called a “fundamental moral issue.”

Edwards, a two-time candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has struggled to get his message heard since a scandal about an affair he had with a former campaign staffer enveloped his personal life.

During 30 minutes of questions following Tuesday night’s speech, just one person in the audience of nearly 600 came close to asking about the affair, reports Barb Barrett.

A student who said she organized for Edwards on campus and knocked on doors for him in New Hampshire asked whether politicians should be held to higher moral standards than the rest of the public.

The question sent murmurs through the crowd.

“I don’t think it’s for a candidate to decide what’s appropriate,” Edwards said. “It’s something for every American to decide for themselves.”

He added: “I have my own view, which I’m going to keep to myself tonight.”

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Brown University students began lining up for former Sen. John Edwards' speech at 6 p.m. tonight — two hours before he is scheduled to speak.

Some showed up even before organizers, and were kicked out of the auditorium until doors officially opened at 7:15 p.m., Barb Barrett reports.

Tonight's speech at Brown University in Providence, R.I., is Edwards' first public appearance since November. It comes just as the National Enquirer has yet another story out on his personal life that has not been confirmed by other news sources.

Edwards is scheduled to give a speech entitled "Beautiful America."

Brown University political scientist Wendy Schiller said the former Democratic vice presidential candidate may try to return to the national public scene the same way he arrived, by focusing on issues of poverty.

"When you can voice a message the way John Edwards can, I think you can still remain relevant," Schiller said. "He should get on the trail, give speeches on populism, and make the case that even though he's got personal problems, he’s still willing to advocate on behalf of those who can’t help themselves."

The UNC think tank that once provided John Edwards a platform to discuss poverty issues is not counting on the former Senator and two-time presidential candidate to return to the fold.

The University of North Carolina Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity was launched in 2005, and Edwards served as its director until he resigned at the end of 2006 to launch his second run at the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, Lorenzo Perez reports.

Edwards' disclosure Friday to ABC's "Nightline" that he had an affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter has had no impact on contributions or grants to the nonpartisan center, said Katie Bowler, assistant dean for communications for UNC’s law school.

Edwards has not had a role at the Chapel Hill center since since he left it in 2006, Bowler said.

"He continues to support the ideals of the center, but there’s no expectation that he will be returning," Bowler said.

It was only three weeks ago that John Edwards was fielding media questions on his chances of filling the Democratic Party's vice-presidential slot on Barack Obama's ticket or a potential cabinet position in an Obama administration.

On Wednesday, however, the former U.S. senator and 2004 vice-presidential nominee was eager to duck the press when the questions took a tabloid turn, Lisa Zagaroli and Lorenzo Perez report.

About a dozen reporters and photojournalists attended a speech Edwards gave to an AARP Foundation symposium on poverty and aging in Washington. Afterward, he avoided most of the waiting reporters, at least some of whom wanted to question him about recent reports in the National Enquirer that alleged an inappropriate relationship with a former campaign aide.

Citing unnamed sources, the Enquirer published a story in October claiming that Edwards was having an affair with a woman who filmed a series of campaign videos. The story resurfaced last week in the online version of the Enquirer, which claimed that Edwards had visited the woman and their "love child" July 21 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

In October, the woman posted an online statement denying the first story. In December, an Edwards campaign worker claimed to be the father of the woman's then-unborn child.

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John Edwards will be in an upcoming GQ magazine.

The former North Carolina senator posed for a two-part shoot in Georgetown, the swanky Washington, D.C. neighborhood where he used to live.

A spokeswoman for the magazine told the Washington Post's Sleuth blog that he wore a suit — "nothing fancy" — for the first part and running shorts for the second — "but nothing skimpy."

The pictures are for a larger political package. For his part, Edwards was promoting Half in Ten, which aims to reduce poverty by half in a decade.

Gary Pearce says John Edwards may be angling for a job for Hillary Clinton.

The Democratic political consultant notes that Clinton on April 4 released a plan calling for a "Poverty Czar" — a Cabinet-level position to work on the problems of poverty, Edwards' signature issue, Pearce writes:

When Clinton proposed a Cabinet agency to fight poverty — and an anti-poverty czar — last week, Edwards put out a rare statement. He praised Clinton. He said poverty "demands strong action" and that "a cabinet-level poverty position is exactly that kind of action."

He also says that there are "hints of bad blood" between Edwards and Barack Obama, one reason he may not have made an endorsement yet in the presidential race.

It can be difficult to get folks to tune in to the race for lieutenant governor.

But Hampton Dellinger, one of four Democratic candidates for the post, has managed to get the attention of renowned jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

Marsalis has cut a radio ad endorsing Dellinger, a Durham attorney.

Marsalis, who lives in Durham, says in the ad that he has been impressed by Dellinger's willingness to talk about poverty and the need to create jobs in North Carolina.

"Now I'm not a political guy," Marsalis says in the ad. "But it's not often I hear somebody talking about what really matters."

John Edwards said that he will return to New Orleans.

In his concession speech today, he said that he will work on a Habitat for Humanity today and return to the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged city in the future.

"One day, the trumpets will sound in Musicians Village," he said.

Edwards called for universal health care, an end to the Iraq war and a return to fighting poverty. He said that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have told him they will make ending poverty central to their presidencies.

"This is the cause of my life," he said, "And I now have their commitment to this cause."

He said that things will work out for him.

"This son of a millworker is going to be just fine," he said. "Our job now is to make sure that America is fine."

Sen. Barack Obama issued a statement this morning praising John Edwards, saying his work on poverty "made a nation focus again on who matters."

Here's the statement in full:

John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn't popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who's up and who's down, he made a nation focus again on who matters—the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington. John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this—that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America.

John Edwards' New Orleans speech was supposed to be about poverty.

The Edwards campaign sent out a press release at 1 p.m. yesterday, saying that he would give a "major policy address" at the Musicians Village and then work on a Habitat for Humanity house.

On Wednesday, January 30, 2008, Senator John Edwards will return to New Orleans to deliver a major policy address on poverty, the great moral issue of our time. In recent days and weeks, national discussion of important issues like ending poverty has given way to sniping and personal attacks between the two frontrunner candidates. Ending poverty and fighting for the middle class is the cause of John Edwards' life — and he will urge the nation to refocus on this important issue.

Edwards' decision to give his dropout speech in New Orleans means it will likely still focus on poverty, the central plank of his 2008 campaign.

He was also scheduled to speak at the Georgia Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner tonight.