Thursday, January 31, 2008

Fond Farewell to John

January 31, 2008

So one day after this blog stated John Edwards would probably NOT drop out of the democratic primaries Mr. Edwards goes and...drops out of the democratic primaries.

I respect Edwards though in his ability to maintain a positive front even at times where, obviously, his campaign was in serious doubt internally.

What does this mean for our final two? That remains to be determined. As I mentioned in my last blog, if Edwards choses to endorse one of the candidates it has an obvious, immediate impact. If he does not, then there are differing theories on the Edwards pullout.

On one hand, Barack Obama is essentially this year's version of what Edwards was last year when he was the fresh face promoting a change in politics. Some experts have been quoted in saying that Obama stands to pick up the majority of Edwards's followers for that reason.

And then on the other hand, certain observations during the early primaries in South Carolina and Iowa showed that Edwards stole potential voters from Hillary Clinton, mainly the "blue-collar WHITE" voters that will most certainly keep their feet on the Clinton road and watch the Obama bandwagon pass on by.

No matter what happens I think ALL democrats need to take a moment and applaud Mr. Edwards on his way out. With media attention enamored with the first African American and woman candidates, it was hard for Edwards to get some of the coverage he very much deserved. It's impressive that a candidate leaving the race relatively early on could still carry so much political weight in the form of followers and policy proposals - most notably his ideas on poverty and health care.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Rainy days for Hillary

Jan. 29, 2008

There have been only two times in Hillary Clinton's life where she has been legitimately worthy of my sympathy.

One of those times should be obvious. The other is now.

After her recent loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina, Clinton's campaign received another devastating blow when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Clinton FAMILY FRIEND, decided to publicly announce his backing of her rival.

Talk about awkward moments: Only a few hours after the highly publicized Kennedy endorsement, the dysfunctional love triangle was on display at the State of the Union address in Washington. Did you see that picture? Clinton looks like the hurt ex trying to appear strong while Obama won't even look at her. The poor woman in the middle of the Kennedy/Clinton handshake looking very uncomfortable probably wishes she would have chosen a different seat.

Meanwhile, John Edwards just keeps truckin' along with his less than 20 percent popularity. I read that Edwards knows his chances of winning are small but will not drop out of the race and could essentially turn his campaign into one massive vote at the end for the man (or woman) he endorses. It appears as though it could be a real possibility - the fight for democratic delegates will be a heated one between Clinton and Obama.

The theme of the day must be sympathy because mine goes out to Edwards as well as Clinton. If you'll recall, it was actually Edwards who was the biggest mudslinger a few months back but that was getting him nowhere. Since then, he switched strategies and has been encouraging a unified Democratic front. The new strategy has...also been getting him nowhere.

Maybe we'll see a third strategy from Edwards as the race continues.