In a recent e-mail, John Edwards asks his supporters to "Guess Who's Really Coming To Lunch With Hillary" before spilling the beans: It's lobbyists and special interests, of course.

Fresh from criticizing Barack Obama for his Iraq troop-removal plan, Edwards has reset his sights on his favorite target -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Her campaign's lunch-with-the-candidate event -- an idea "borrowed" from the Obama camp -- had promised some lucky donors face-time with the New York senator.

But Edwards, who has trailed Clinton and Obama in the polls for months, says something else is afoot.

"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," his campaign said.

"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."

Edwards' anger seems to be rising as the days go by and as he continues to trail Clinton and Obama in state and national polls, and for good reason. In a recent South Carolina poll, he received only 3 percent of the respondents' support -- and Edwards was born in South Carolina.

-- Brian DeBose, national political reporter, The Washington Times