Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) slammed Sen. Hillary Clinton this morning, charging she is too closely tied to Washington in the latest of a relentless stream of attacks against the Democratic presidential front-runner.

In a fundraising e-mail sent this morning and excerpted below, Edwards adviser Joe Trippi outlined his case. He also reminded supporters that his boss has been calling for the Democratic Party and all its candidates to reject lobbyist donations entirely.

Dear Friend,
If you want to know why we need change in Washington -- and I mean real change, not just trading corporate Republican insiders with corporate Democratic insiders -- then just look at Senator Clinton's schedule for today.
Today at noon, Hillary Clinton will be hosting a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. for a select group of lobbyists with an interest in homeland security.
Tickets for the Clinton fundraiser are $1,000 a ticket and $25,000 per bundler. And for that money you get more than a meal -- you get to attend one-hour breakout sessions in four different areas of homeland security that will include House Committee Chairs and members of Congress who sit on the very committees that will be voting on homeland security legislation.
The American people know that the system in Washington has become corroded and corrupt -- that the nation's capital is awash in campaign money from lobbyists seeking to gain influence to impact legislation.
Yet too many in office have fallen under the spell of campaign money at any cost -- and do not see that when they defend the system, they are protecting those that have rigged the game that puts corporate profits ahead of the interests of working Americans.
To truly end that game, it's going to take more than a change of heart from other candidates: it's going to take thousands of committed Americans like you who are willing to take on the powerful interests dollar for dollar to elect a president like John Edwards -- who has never taken a dime from any Washington lobbyist, and never will.
...
Today's Clinton fundraising event is a "poster child" for what is wrong with Washington and what should never happen again with a candidate running for the highest office in the land.
That no one in the Clinton campaign -- including the candidate -- found anything wrong with holding this fundraiser is an indication of just how bad things have gotten in Washington -- because there isn't an American outside of Washington who would not be sickened by it.
...
Thank you for all you do.
-- Joe Trippi
Senior Advisor, John Edwards for President
September 18, 2007

-- Christina Bellantoni, national political reporter, The Washington Times