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(03-25) 04:00 PDT Las Vegas -- Former Sen. John Edwards, joined by his wife, Elizabeth, returned Saturday to the give-and-take of presidential campaigning with a pledge to stay in the Democratic race "for the duration" and a challenge to rivals to spell out their plans for universal health care coverage.

"One of the reasons I want to be president is to make sure every woman and every person in America gets the same kind of things that we have," the former North Carolina senator said of the wealthy couple's access to top-notch medical treatment.

The appearance was Edwards' first in public since announcing plans to press on with his candidacy after learning that his wife's breast cancer has returned in incurable, but treatable, form. The fact that his appearance came at a labor forum dedicated to health care was coincidental. But the emotional backdrop lent their appearance -- Edwards on stage, his wife in the audience -- greater poignancy and added weight to an issue he has emphasized in his campaign.

First, however, he had to address questions about his political viability and capacity to operate under increased stress. Looking worn, with puffy bags under his eyes, Edwards told moderator Karen Tumulty of Time magazine, "I'm definitely in the race for the duration."

"We know what it's like to function in a very difficult environment," Edwards said, mentioning the death of the couple's 16-year-old son more than a decade ago and Elizabeth Edwards' first round of treatment for breast cancer after the 2004 campaign. "I know, because we've done it in the past, that we can do it."

The forum on the University of Nevada campus featured the major Democratic White House contestants, each appearing separately. None of the Republican hopefuls appeared, possibly because the sponsors -- the Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union -- are so closely associated with Democratic campaigns and causes.

Edwards, who has offered the most detailed health care proposal, said his plan would cost as much as $120 billion annually and be financed by raising taxes on families making more than $200,000 a year. "We don't get universal health care for free," Edwards said.

No other candidate signed on to Edwards' tax boost, although Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois said there might be a need for added revenues "on the front end," as Obama put it, that could be recouped through savings later.

Participating in his first such candidate forum, Obama seemed more tentative than usual. He promised his own detailed health care plan in the next few months, but suggested the more important question was whether there was "the political will and sense of urgency to actually get it done."

Clinton, who led the unsuccessful fight to expand health care coverage during her husband's administration, said she would start this time by ending "insurance discrimination" that allows companies to refuse coverage to applicants with pre-existing conditions.

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