Comments on Edwards Falls to Third Place--In His Home State

Dan, that poll shows all three candidates in a statistical dead heat. It's misleading to suggest that Edwards is in third when he could well be in first place given the margin of error.

Not really. The Dems are helped by the MSM being forced to discuss the issues and values raised by the frontrunners - Clinton, Obama, and Edwards - and him dropping out actually would be less useful to the Dems having a strong tested ticket in November.

So long as people realize all the Dem contenders this year are very qualified and far superior to the bottom of the barrel choices in the GOP, it's all good.

I'm sure Original Monique and Original Andrew would agree with me on this.

...because the polls are always correct...

John has to stay in b/c he's hott.

Oh wow. I originally thought that referred to his birth state of South Carolina. But yeah, if he's not even pulling favorite son votes, I'm with you, Dan.

Dan,

Please don't quit your day job giving bad sex advice in order to become a political consultant (although I suppose that with the analytic skills you exhibit here you could probably get a job with the centrist losers at the DLC)

Edwards is the only one driving any talk about corporate power (Kucinich is too easy to ignore). If he drops out, all we'll hear is "I have hope," vs. "I have 'experience'." With Edwards in the pool, Hope and Experience occasionally have to address progressive issues. Neither one can win without progressives in the general, so Edwards is helping all of us.

Edwards helps by pulling voters away from Obama. Please dear god, let Edwards stay in through at least Super Tuesday.

@Mr. X

Dan Savage is the finest advice columnist in the world.

Sullivan is a tool.

Why are so many conservatives enamored with Obama? Its a wee weird.

yes, we need edwards to be a populist and anti corporate blowhard.

I agree with Will; the longer we have three viable candidates, the better.

also, it was really shitty of Kerry to endorse Obama so early. I think eventually Edwards will fold; all Kerry had to do was wait until after Super Tuesday. He was just jealous he hasn't gotten any attention in this race.

obviously the Conservatives love Obama because they think the Republican candidate can beat him because they don't think a black man can win the election.

they also truly beleive they can beat Hillary, but loathe her anyway.

frankly, if O gets the nomination, i beleive he can whup any republican nominee.

Dan, I love ya. But you're just wrong about this. It's flat-out too early for him to drop out. 99% of the electorate hasn't even had a say (I know that's one of his campaign's current talking points, but that doesn't make it untrue).

Besides, are you seriously going to trust pollsters after how badly they fucked up the call in NH?

Let the goddamn process work and shut the hell up until we're at least through Super Tuesday.

Geez.

The nomination is far from won by anyone. Edwards should stay in until that changes. The Democrats need a candidate who is confronting politics as usual.
Both Hillary and Barack rely on soft bandwagon support. Neither is as strong as the polls suggest. Edwards may not have a plurality of support but the support he does have does not fluctuate with the hype of the day.

i love the J-Ed

Obviously, You've pissed off the Edwards munchkins. Now maybe if the the brain-dead Obama boogedy-boogedies can get off the truck, we can have a real election here.

If you look at the Democratic primary the way most people look at the AFC Championship or ALCS (as in, the winner of each is automatically an overwhelming favorite to win the ring), then it's really easy to see Edwards as the new Nader.


I agree with Big Sven's first sentence, but feel the opposite of the second one.

@12 Or possibly because they REALLY don't want Billary back in the White House and all of the Rethug candidates suck ass.

Will in Seattle @ 2,

I truly felt that way in 2000--and I'm about to scream because I almost can't believe I'm typing this--but I will *never* vote for Hillary Clinton under any circumstances.

Why should I vote for someone who I know will betray everything that I care about? Have you enjoyed the Democratic Congress? Why not just vote Republican, because that's what Hillary Clinton is--a moderate Republican.

I'll vote for that cop-slapping, looney tunes, Cynthia McKinney, on the Green Party ticket.

She loved being a congresswoman. To paraphrase SNL: You put a cop in her way, she'll slap that cop. You put a police dog in her way, and she'll slap that dog!

Andrew Sullivan stopped being someone to take seriously during Bush's first term. He's for amusement purposes only.

@20:

Oh, I dunno...'cause she won't be nominating the likes of Harriet Miers or Scalia to replace Justice Stevens?

Yeah, that's setting the bar pretty low. But still.

Yeah, let's take a minute and talk seriously here. Edwards is such a shyster that his own running mate won't endorse him. Obama really thinks that spouting "change," with no particulars, while sucking up to every radical black freakazoid in the country. is what's best for America. Yeah, sign me up for a seat for that one; I've always wanted to be there when this country flushed itself down the toilet.

@23
If you want particulars, here are 64 pages worth.
The other option is to go with Billary for a third term.

Ah well. Look, Sen Clinton may not be in my top three choices, but considering her opposition, I have no problem if she wins the nomination, OA.

Admittedly, any of the Republics would be setting the bar quite low, but it is what it is.

@23

Edwards and Kerry never got along. They had serious disagreements about how to campaign in '04 (e.g. Edwards wanted to hit back a lot harder and faster when the swift boat ads came out), and were never close. No one, least of all Edwards, ever Kerry to endorse Edwards.

As someone who thinks that Kerry ran one of the worst campaigns I have ever seen, I don't think his endorsement is that coveted...

Yeah, and it's a damn shame Hillary didn't pack it up before she got trounced in that NH election like all the polls showed she would...

Yeah, and it's a damn shame Hillary didn't pack it up before she got trounced in that NH election like all the polls showed she would...

I'm leaning towards Obama. I like Edwards but it's been clear he can't win for a long, long time. He can play kingmaker though and it would be good if he could get either of the front runners to be a bit more partisan.

However.

"via Sullivan"

Getting political thoughts from Sullivan is like going to the Family Research Council for sex advice. They talk about sex a lot but they're generally wrong.

Only so many hours in a day Dan, spending them on Sully is a waste of time.

Get real? The race is going to go on till summer. What's the hurry? It's a decision making process.

Original Andrew, have you been watching the Republican debates vs the Democratic ones? It's like watching the evil empire versus ... the non-evil empire.

You don't like HRC. That's fine, and you know what? As long as Washington isn't up for grabs, I say vote your conscience.

But if Washington ends up being a swing state, I implore you to vote Democratic. There are a million and one very small things that don't get talked about very often that will be so much better under a Democratic administration than a Republican one.

So please. Just think about it.

Dan, you sound like such a Republican.

Bush has proven that even a moderate conservative like Hillary is better than any Republican.

@ Everyone,

Look, it’s not exactly a secret that our country is like totally fucked. But really, if most Americans don’t have the common fucking decency and sanity to vote for someone other than—well—ANY of the Republicans, then there’s not really a lot we can do about it except go down with the ship. We keep pursuing the same failed policies over and over again (More wars! More tax cuts! Fuck the poor!), and the end results are never going to change.

So here’s the Reality Check®: There’s a common misconception that our economy and political system are “broken” when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything’s coming up roses for those lucky 0.01% of America’s wealthiest citizens, who are now rich beyond comprehension, and their puppets in Congress—and there’s not a chance in hell that they want to change anything for one single second ‘cause it means a smaller piece of the pie for them in the form of higher taxes and higher wages for us piss-ons.

Only a real shock to the system is going to change that, meaning another devastating war, a financial crisis, or some as yet unknown factor. Maybe the whole country will be shocked at once when Rudy Giuliani sinks his fangs into John McCain’s neck—who knows? The point is I’m taking a stand on principal. I compromised my values in the past, but enough is enough.

Dan,
Did you read the Slog last time you posted this? And did you even read the poll you posted? It's a dead heat (when you factor in the margin of error). Please focus your efforts on sex advice (which you do incredibly well) and not on political advice (at which you're sucking right now).
John Edwards dropping out of the race would be terrible at this point. We need him in there for a bunch of reasons including accountability of the other candidates.
Besides, he's the only true progressive in the bunch.
What do you have against him Dan?

Original Andrew, will you marry me?*

I am sick of Obama's "hope, let's work across both sides of the aisle, bla bla bla," and Clinton's "I have experience." Edwards is the only one (ok, except Kucinich) who says "they're fucking all of us!" I want someone in office who will fight for us peons.

I cannot comprehend why more people don't support him. The only complaints I hear about him are completely nonsubstantive, i.e "I just hate him," "he's got no chance," "something about him just bugs me," "do you really want another white guy in office," etc.

I'll vote for whomever wins the nom, and probably be crying tears of joy on election day if they win, but christ, Edwards is the only one I feel will try to make any real changes.

*if you don't mind a wife with two husbands.

Isn't his main experience losing a national campaign four years ago?
What did he ever do in the Senate? Anything?? Anybody?? Does he have some great idea about how to prevent Pakistan from crumbling and the nukes being auctioned off to Al Q, Chaos or the Klingons?

His message got out there in IA and NH and he lost both. Therefore: he and his message don't work so hot. Therefore: he'd lose the presidential election.

I don't care if he stays in or out but he ain't a gonna win any state primary. He's only staying in because he has no other public office and mebbe he can be kingmaker for O. and then be Obama's VP.

If the delegate count is (O + E) > C....then.... wow...Obama could beat Hillary, even if she has the plurality of delegates, through some Chicago-style man-to-man horse trading!

How's that for some real change? A Barack-room deal....

@20, moderate republican or wacko extremist republican, choices choices, gee, this is hard, maybe I'll just write in Nader.

(On second thought I think I'm in love with Hillary ABC news video; "Candidates Spar Over Obama Pakistan Plan")

@34, I'm confused, while Edwards might not be in the top 0.01%, I'll bet he's at least close to rubbing shoulders with the top 0.1%. Well, sure, he didn't get his money by exploiting the workers, he took it from the "fat cats" (who got it by exploiting the workers, and will replace it by continuing to exploit the workers)

Everything’s coming up roses for those lucky 0.01% of America’s wealthiest citizens, who are now rich beyond comprehension.

"All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others"

Hey, I just found another interesting quote from George; "The quickest way to end a war, is to lose it." I seems to me that only works if one is honest enough to admit that you are not going to win (never, ever, no way, no how) (point for Edwards) but if you won't admit it, it is a good way to make a war last forever (good for your no-bid contract buddies if you are another George)

This is one of the most ridiculus political commentaries ever- JE is within the margin of error and you call it third place and a reason to withdraw. Think of what Ted Kennedy said in 1980- in it till the final roll call. He also said something to the effect you don't abandon principles. I heard him and I think JE heard him; too bad you didn't.

good god, dan, didn't you learn anything from all the intelligent comments to your last post about edwards? you gotta hear it again?!

why do you hate democracy?

HAHAHA!!!

good riddance John Edwards.

he was a shitty senator and he'd be a shitty president.

Obama!