Update: In fact Edwards did say he'd take health care from Congress as well. His spokesman emails to say, "No fine-tuning on this one--it's
one of his strongest ideas that gets the best response from voters." Don't know how I missed that. (But I thought Democrats were "defending the Constitution"!)
In his speech at Iowa's Jefferson-Jackson dinner tonight, John Edwards vowed that if his administration doesn't pass universal health care within six months of his inauguration, he'll cut off health care coverage for his cabinet officers. That's a much narrower threat than the one he was making a couple of months ago--cutting off members of Congress as well--probably because, as Matt Yglesias shrewdly noted right away, that first idea was apparently unconstitutional.
But that's a minor point, obviously. More on the big stuff to come.
--Michael Crowley