To some, he is the next Bill Clinton.

John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, has clean-cut good looks mixed with popular southern charm and a family history touched by tragedy. And his relentlessly upbeat message has played well with voters weary of negative attacks by Democrats against each other and downbeat messages about the state of the economy. His victory in only one primary - South Carolina, his native state - means he has still got a long way to go. And critics maintain that he lacks the experience to become president during this critical time for the United States.

His campaign song is John Mellencamp's anthem of middle America, Small Town, and John Edwards makes the most of his rural roots. His story is the local boy made good. He made millions as a lawyer, but he sells himself as a candidate with the common touch.

"I will be a champion for regular people every single day. I will fight my heart out to bring back America's dream," he said as he announced his campaign for president in the same South Carolina town where his father worked in a textile mill. John Edwards is a child of the American South. He was the first in his family to go to university, working in the same mill where his father did to help pay his way. He met his wife Elizabeth at law school, and two children followed, Cate and Wade. But seven years ago, Wade was killed in a car accident. Everything changed. John Edwards gave up law and took up politics as a senator for North Carolina and began to seriously pursue his presidential ambitions. His is a quintessentially American story of the self-made man, and he mixes it with the timeless story of the underdog, of David versus Goliath, to promote his bid for the presidency. "This is the America that still believes the son of a mill worker can beat the son of a president for the White House," he says.

Foreign policy challenges

There is a long journey ahead if he is indeed to face George W Bush in November's presidential elections. But history is on his side. Over the past 40 years, every Democratic president has been a Southerner.

From Lyndon Johnson of Texas through to Jimmy Carter - proud of his Georgia roots - and most recently Bill Clinton, the former governor of Arkansas. The geography may be right for John Edwards, but the big flaw in his campaign is experience. He is a political novice with some convincing to do. He is strong on the economy but weaker on what could become the key election issue: foreign policy. EJ Dionne of the Brookings Institution says that he suffers from what some call the dumb blond syndrome in politics. "Edwards is young and extremely attractive, which is used against him to say 'Is he serious if he's young and extremely attractive?'," Mr. Dionne said. Mr. Edwards will need all his Southern charm to now make a splash nationally and he will have to shake off the critics who have described him as a pleasant man without qualifications who desperately wants to be president.