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.