New York, NY —

Democrats John Edwards and John Kerry face off in a nationally televised debate tonight, one of two debates before next Tuesday's New York primary. More than deciding between the two candidates on the issues, Democratic voters will need to choose between two very different histories - and two different approaches. WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports.

It's like a rose unfurling in February - a contested New York Democratic presidential primary. Usually New Yorkers find themselves ratifying the decisions of Democrats from New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina. Those are states without large urban areas and all the things that go with that - subway systems, a huge network of public schools, known terror targets.

But now, the candidates find themselves tuning their stump speeches for New York audiences. In Harlem this week, John Kerry spoke about a trip to 118th street he took 12 years ago.

Kerry: I walked into building a brownstone that 15 kids were rebuilding and I was so impressed by it I went back to Washington -- I was then chairman of the Housing committee -- I just wrote it in to the legislation and today its in 43 states in 173 cities there are 25,000 grads, kids who have a future in America its called Youthbuild.

With 19 years in the Senate, John Kerry can speak with a great deal of specificity about issues like this. When asked why New Yorkers should vote for him, his supporters will give you lists. The League of Conservation voters gives him a 96 percent rating. NARAL Pro-Choice America: 100 percent. The AFL CIO: 92 percent. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney - a co-chair of his New York campaign recalls a time a few years ago, when she was trying to make sure the census count would be conducted in a way that was favorable to New York.

Maloney: As the lead democrat on the census committee I approached many, many senators to hold hearings on this issue on getting an accurate count. John Kerry was the only one who did it.

Even so, Kerry isn't necessarily associated with a particular issue so much as he is with investigating and exposing wrongdoing. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, also a Kerry supporter, says he admires Kerry's intellect.

Spitzer: What makes somebody a good president is a set of talents What will make him a spectacular president is reflected in those investigations because it speaks to the values he brought to his job.

At a forum at York College in Jamaica this week, Kerry spoke directly to this middle class African American community. He said if elected President, he would enforce a law that gives government contracts to minority and women-owned businesses.

Kerry: I'm the senior democrat on the Small Business Committee. We put that law in place and we fought to hold onto it when the Republicans tried to undo it so we could get money to small businesses in areas where they're historically not able to get access to money.

In speeches in New York City this week, Kerry stuck to his standard denunciations of Benedict Arnold corporations. He closed his speeches promising that at the end of the campaign - the democrats would say Mission Accomplished.

By contrast, Senator Edwards took what has been called his one-size-fits-all stump speech -- the one about two Americas -- and tailored it for New York

Edwards: And there's no place in America that better defines these two different kinds of America that we have that than right here in New York City

Unlike Kerry, John Edwards has no long lists, no large cadre of political cronies built up over the years.

Gillory: He doesn't have a long political record. You can't go back 20 years and say this is how he would vote on this or on that his voting record is very short since he's only been in the senate since 1999.

University of North Carolina political scientist Ferrell Gillory has watched Edwards rise from successful trial lawyer to Presidential contender in just six years. Gillory says a personal tragedy - the death of his 16-year-old son in a car accident - caused Edwards to take stock of his life, and opt to run for elective office. And, Gillory says, in North Carolina in 1998, no one from inside the Democratic party structure was willing to take on the Jesse Helms political machine. So the party pretty much offered the ballot slot to Edwards. To its surprise, Edwards won.

Gillory: His story of having grown up in a mill town gone off to a state university, gotten a professional degree and then thrived, this is what the south itself has gone through.

In the Senate, Edwards tended to gravitate towards the same kinds of fights that ignited his passion as a personal injury lawyer: the little guy against the big corporate interests. His New York campaign chair, Council member Bill De Blasio, says Edwards is best known for co-authoring the patients Bill of Rights

Blasio: That has pushed the whole health care debate in a direction that particularly helps New Yorkers, given the incredible health care costs here.

In an interview late last year on the Brian Lehrer show, Edwards talked about a program he's touting - Cities Rising - that would give tax breaks to companies that are willing to locate in depressed urban areas. But he became particularly animated when talking about the Bush prescription drug plan, which he called a giveaway to drug companies.

Edwards: what shouldn't happen is because they have such a powerful presence and a lobby in Washington they shouldn't be able to overcome the interest of the American people.

Professor Gillory says Edwards would approach the Presidency this way through the prism of his experience. At Columbia University Edwards told the standing room only audience: his success can be YOUR success.

Edwards: This election is about the future of our country, about lifting up the America people making them proud to be Americans again making them believe again that everything is possible. Our campaign has always been about the politics of what's possible.

On many issues, with the possible exception of trade, Edwards and Kerry are remarkably similar. Both want to end the Bush tax cut for the rich. Both offer incentives for companies to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. Both have college tuition assistance proposals. On Tuesday, Democrats have to decide which candidate they want to face president Bush - the war hero with 19-years in the Senate - and all that entails. Or the son of a mill worker turned trial lawyer turned Presidential candidate in just six years--- with all THAT entails. For WNYC, I'm Andrea Bernstein.