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January 30, 2008

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Edwards is out

John Edwards

John Edwards is withdrawing his candidacy today after a string of third place finishes in early primaries. Things were looking pretty good after he beat Hillary in Iowa, but since then he's been at around 15% in other early voting states.

The bad news: those of us in later voting states can't support the candidate who more than any other talked about the reality of poverty in America, who kept public attention on the ongoing public service disaster in New Orleans and other Katrina-affected areas, and who spoke most forcefully about how corporate interests hurt regular Americans, especially in terms of health care.

AP writes:

Edwards burst out of the starting gate with a flurry of progressive policy ideas — he was the first to offer a plan for universal health care, the first to call on Congress to pull funding for the war, and he led the charge that lobbyists have too much power in Washington and need to be reigned in.

The good news: we won't have to hear Elizabeth Edwards say shit like "I'm disappointed in Michelle Obama" and "I think I'm more joyful than Hillary is" and "Remember everyone: I have breast cancer!" anymore.

Edwards is expected to announce his withdrawal today in New Orleans, and will probably make the case for better government intervention in rebuilding the city and helping people still suffering from tremendous losses two and a half years after the storm.

categories: Economics, Politics
posted by amy at 10:59 AM | #

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Comments

Actually the thing about Edwards - who has changed his opinions more than Mitt Romney in the last five years - that I will miss most is his wife. When she said what she thought about Mike Huckabee, she summed up everything that creeps me out about the Republican party:

"He seems like a nice charming guy. Doesn’t believe in evolution and has some nutty views about what it is we should do about ending violence in our inner city — we should make sure all of our young people are armed. Republicans scare me."

I would have thought he would endorse Obama in exchange for a promise to be Attorney General, but if he doesn't do it today, there's not much point.

Posted by: T-Rock at January 30, 2008 2:48 PM

I also sort of like that quote about Huckabee, but I still think it's not such a good idea for a candidate's spouse to be going around saying things in public like "Republicans scare me," especially if Edwards ever thought he had a serious chance of getting the nomination. It would have blown his chances for getting many votes from party-changing Republicans. A lot of "scary" Republicans also think Huckabee is a nut.

Posted by: amy at January 30, 2008 4:04 PM

Yeah, it wasn't the best thing to say for a general election. Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama are a lot more disciplined.

Posted by: T-Rock at January 31, 2008 11:21 AM

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