SPARTANBURG, S.C. - A giant "Welcome Home Edwards" banner encircled more than 100 people gathered around presidential hopeful John Edwards on Wednesday as he promised not to forget his native state if he wins the Democratic nomination.

Edwards took a jab at the GOP's state slogan - "Bush Country" - and said he would challenge President Bush in the Republican-heavy South Carolina in the general election.

"I will not see this state as just George W. Bush's, given what he's done to the people of this state," said Edwards, who was born in Seneca, about 60 miles southwest of here. "This is my back yard. This is not George W. Bush's."

First Edwards has to lock up the Democratic nomination and says he needs the state's first-in-the-South primary on Feb. 3 to do that.

He is banking his success on his Southern roots and spreading the word about his campaign with the help of those who know him best - like his 72-year-old aunt Rita Addis of Seneca.

"One of the best things about running for president, especially when you come to South Carolina, is you stand up and speak to a crowd and there's somebody from your family," Edwards said to the crowd at Spartanburg Technical College.

The beaming Addis says she talks about her nephew from the grocery store to the paint shop. "He's all that he appears to be and more," she says. "If he says he'll do something, he will."

Edwards promised the crowd he would fight for fair trade and ways to help regain the tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs lost in South Carolina since Bush has been in office.

"And President Bush by the way, the best I can tell, has no plan at all, no plan at all for the thousands of families who have lost their jobs," Edwards said.

He outlined his plans to overhaul U.S. trade policies by extending some or all existing textile quotas until China lives up to its trade commitments. He also said he opposes the proposed trade deal to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement to Central America.

"I wish this president would spend one day doing what I'm doing everyday," Edwards told the crowd of teachers, laid-off textile mill workers and business leaders. "He needs to be out there in the real world, listening to what people have to say, hearing what their problems are."

Edwards' supporters from North Carolina, where he is now a U.S. senator, plan to take two vans to New Hampshire on Thursday to rally support in the nation's first presidential primary.

"We all have on our woolies, and we're going to be knocking on doors," said Pat Crawford, 58, of Hendersonville, N.C.

Edwards said it's critical he come out strong in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary to swing the momentum through South Carolina and win the Democratic nomination.

Some Democrats criticized Al Gore for skipping South Carolina during his 2000 campaign and giving Bush an easy win here.

"When I am your nominee for president, I will campaign in South Carolina," Edwards said. "I will be here personally. We will run a campaign in the state of South Carolina. I will compete with George Bush."