Edwards of North Carolina said one of the key reasons he is running again for president is his wi... Democrats vow to fight for

Edwards of North Carolina said one of the key reasons he is running again for president is his wife's struggle with cancer, a battle that has been fought with the best tools available and the kind of care many do not have.

"It's not right that a woman has to go through--or anyone has to go through--this kind of struggle and have to worry about the medicine they need, the health care that they need," he said. "No American should have to worry about that."

The event attracted seven Democratic candidates and was sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union, a powerful national labor group with nearly 2 million members that may endorse one of the candidates later this year.

"We have high hopes that what happens in Las Vegas will actually leave Las Vegas and set the tone for the entire presidential campaign," said John Podesta, leader of the Center for American Progress.

With an estimated 45 million Americans--about 15 percent of the population--without health insurance, the Democrats all showed passion for universal care. But they varied on the details, including how they would pay for it and how long it would take to create.

Speaking to about 1,000 mostly union members at the University of Nevada, Edwards knocked down any suggestions that he would get out of the race because of his wife's recent diagnosis, saying he was "definitely in the race for the duration."

As he talked about the importance of an honest campaign discussion on health care, his wife wiped a tear from her eye. She laughed minutes later at one of his applause lines.

Edwards reaffirmed his belief that taxes will need to be raised to fund universal coverage. "I do not believe you can have universal health care without finding additional revenue," he said.

In January, Obama pledged to work to provide health-care coverage for every American if he is elected. But he has yet to provide a detailed plan, and a questioner from the audience said she could find few details about his proposal on his Web site.

"Our campaign is a little over 8 weeks old, so we will be putting a very detailed plan on our Web site," Obama responded, adding that he planned to provide details "over the next couple of months."

Obama said there was no uncertainty in his view that all Americans should have health care. "My commitment is to make sure we have universal health care for all Americans by the end of my first term as president," he said.

Michelle Obama, who works for the University of Chicago Hospitals, sat through most of the presentations before and after her husband's appearance. She frequently applauded--and later kissed--her husband's chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Clinton, who pushed a failed health-care plan during her husband's first term as president, said she has the battle wounds to prove just how hard it will be to pass comprehensive health-care legislation.

"I feel a little like this is deja vu all over again," she said. "I'm proud that we tried. We may not have succeeded, but we set the groundwork in place so now people are saying, `Boy I wish we had done it back then.'"

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