Hey yo. In advance.... Edwards is the reason Obama is winning right now.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Edwards dropped out of the race when he did to give Obama a fair chance at this election.

If Edwards had not dropped out when he did, Hillary would be leading, Obama would be second and Edwards would be in third place. People would be screaming their heads off about how Edwards should not be allowed to give Obama the win over Hillary when she had more votes. It would definitely have gone all the way to the convention and Hillary would most likely have ended up being the nominee.

That's still possible, but it's MUCH less likely thanks to Edwards' pre-super-Tuesday move.

So a little gratitude please, Obama supporters. If Edwards decides to endorse Hillary as has been rumored, just remember that this cannot possibly help her nearly as much as him staying in the race would have. In fact it will likely be too little, too late.

Personally I don't think it's even gonna happen. But if it does, I'm instantly ignoring anyone who disses on him for it.

[woolldog]

1. Good point, squirrel

[writes3000]

2. Agree. Edwards has a right to do as he pleases. He has incredible integrity.

And I don't expect to agree with anyone 100% of the time.

[woolldog]

4. I do think that an endorsement of Clinton

goes against what he said were his core values. So I question his sincerity now.

But, of course, he's free to endorse whomever he wishes.

[still_one]

14. He will endorse whoever the Democratic nominee is

If he was going to endorse before he would have done so

[ossman]

3. How about nobody voting or donating $ to him? Ya think that maybe why?

[Eurobabe]

5. I pray that JRE does NOT endorse Hillary

I don't see it happening either.

[Selatius]

6. I don't think Edwards likes either candidate at all. He would've endorsed someone by now.

As it stands, he has left it up to his voters, and many of them have switched over to vote for Obama. In that regard, his departure has likely helped Obama.

[mattclearing]

7. I saw it this way at the time as well.

He proved much more gracious than Hillary, who will probably still continue running after the convention's over. Kidding, Hillary, don't get any ideas.

[lapfog_1]

8. Edwards has the perfect right to say what he wants.

However, I don't believe that it will matter that much who he endorses now. If he wanted the endorsement to make more of a difference, he needed to do it soon after he suspended his campaign... if for no other reason than that there simply aren't THAT many more pledged delegates to decide. We are reaching the end of this process, with PA, NC, and IN to go, plus a set of smaller states (delegate wise!) and Puerto Rico. If Edwards endorses now, and it shifts 10 points to Hillary (for example), that amounts to about 103 net delegates to Hillary... and she is still 50 some odd pledged delegates behind Obama. And I don't think his endorsement, or any other factor, will shift things that much at this point. The speech yesterday, will, I hope, blunt the attack on Obama for what his friend and pastor said. After all, if they still want to play that game, there are ALWAYS friends, associates, supporters for any given candidate, that are much nuttier than Wright. Look at some of McCain's pastor friends and endorsers... and likely a number of Hillary friends... all it takes is word from the Obama campaign that he wants to "go there" and you know there is some video that will be blogged and youtubed ad nauseum. Fortunately, I don't think he will want or need to "go there". So, barring some hooker coming forward and having video evidence of Obama smoking crack with her and wiretaps and bank transfers... I think he sealed the deal yesterday.

[still_one]

9. and if Hillary dropped out it would be between Obama & Edwards

[Slagathor]

13. Hillary and Edwards were courting the same blue collar vote

Obama was going for the more middle class voter. Hillary's and Edwards' strategy is inherently flawed because no one actually likes to think of themselves as blue collar and not middle class.

EG a store calling itself "Shorty McDwarfs" is not going to sell as many size "wee man" underwear as a store calling itself "The Average Guy"... and especially not if "The Average Guy" repackages their underwear under the name "gargantua o'cock's party pants".

Hillary was destined to take out Edwards. Either Hillary or Edwards was destined to lose to Obama.

[Slagathor]

10. No. Edwards dropped out because he wasn't competitive anywhere

he solidly lost everything. That's why he dropped out. Altruism wasn't a part of it. He's a politician.

[still_one]

12. Of course you are right, and he knew he would only be a spoiler

No question that Edwards had integrity

If he stayed in the odds would be almost certain that it would go to the convention undecided

[FlyingSquirrel]

19. He knew he probably couldn't win, but he certainly could have waited

till after Super Tuesday. He had the funds to stay in till then. He had the ability to gain 15% of delegates in many of the ST states. He had the ability, if not to win the election, at least to come to the floor of the convention with a significant number of delegates and be the deciding factor. He could have possibly forced Hillary's or Obama's hand and made a deal that required them to choose him as their running mate.

He did none of that. He not only dropped out before ST, he did so FAR ENOUGH IN ADVANCE that most people had not yet voted early, and it also gave many of his supporters time to get over their shock and disappointment so they could find it within themselves to come to the polls and vote for one of the remaining two front-runners.

Edwards did a statesmanlike thing, and nothing his detractors can say will possibly take that away from him.

So bug off.

[still_one]

11. If Hillary was not married to Bill no one would know who she was /nt

[FreakinDJ]

15. HRC started that rumor

No chance in Hell Edwards is jumping the HRC camp

[Mezzo]

16. I'm a bit tired of Democrats acting as if they don't need other democrats...

These people need to wake the fuck up. If HRC supporters keep getting alienated (and they've treated her like she is not a member of their own damn party) they might just vote in November. With their feet.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

17. Excellent point, which makes me think Edwards is NOT going to sell out and endorse Hillary.

[Orsino]

18. Obama is the reason Obama is leading.

Edwards' campaign simply became untenable, and if he eventually endorses Clinton, I won't be persuaded that he's doing so to support Obama.

I think an Edwards endorsement could have made a real difference a month or two ago, but this has long since become a two-person race.

[FlyingSquirrel]

20. See Reply #19, but also --

Even if Obama had pulled ahead of Hillary in the delegate race without Edwards' dropping out -- I still see that as being unlikely since Hillary supporters, for the most part, stayed with her while Obama picked up the vast majority of Edwards supporters -- he would have only a slight lead in delegates and you would not have seen the mass Superdelegate defections. If anything you might have seen Hillary INCREASE her superdelegate lead. The longer the superdelegates stuck with her, the harder it would have been for them to change their minds and switch or become neutral, and the more we'd be hearing about Hillary's inevitability at the Convention because of them.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Obama here, he deserves credit where credit's due. If he'd been a weak candidate, the majority of Edwards' support would have gone to Hillary. The fact remains that he didn't have the delegates and would probably not have had the delegates to win without a change in the dynamics of the race from 3-person to 2-person, at the exact critical time when it happened. This was a conscious decision by Edwards to let the voters make the choice and not him, and Obama supporters need to give him the proper credit for it.