Yesterday John Edwards made his anti-war speech in Hillary's own backyard, timed to coincide with MLK Day and the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader's own anti-war speech, his regarding Vietnam.

While not mentioning Hillary by name, Edwards told his Harlem audience that

"Silence is betrayal, and I believe it is a betrayal not to speak out against the escalation of the war in Iraq. If you're in Congress and you know that this war is going in the wrong direction...it is no longer OK to study your options and keep your own private counsel...Speak out and stop this escalation now."

Just a few hours after Edwards' remarks, Hillary flack Howard Wolfson complained that

"In 2004, John Edwards used to constantly brag about running a positive campaign. Today, he has unfortunately chosen to open his campaign with political attacks on Democrats who are fighting the Bush administration's Iraq policy."

Hillary must be taking Edwards quite seriously, to call him out by name at this point in the process, with the primaries about ten months away. Obviously, opponents like Edwards and Sen. Barack Hussein Obama will be hammering Hillary on this issue early and often, and she will be forced to repeatedly defend her decision to support the October 2002 resolution to use military force in Iraq. It seems like a losing battle, so she may need to strongly repudiate her vote and subsequent support in order to get this target off her back, like Edwards himself did.