I think Edwards could do overcome Obama and Clinton.

[PresidentObama]

First indication of this are his poll numbers in Iowa. He's definitely doing very well in that state. Spending so much time in Iowa, it's clear Iowa is a keypoint in the Edwards strategy. Obviously sending those healthcare DVD's to about 70,000 key voters, he was making it clear he wants to win Iowa!! And he could do it, if you ask me.

And while Clinton's final first quarter numbers hit $26 million, with the speculation being Obama raised $21 million, the $14 million puts Edwards behind the first two candidates. But he doubled his first quarter earnings from last time, and raised enough to stay seriously competitive and in this race. And from what I've heard the only other candidate close to Edwards is Richardson. Didn't Richardson raise $6 million, not even half of the $14 million Edwards raised? So it's clear: Edwards isn't out of the money race!!

In the media spotlight, he was out of it for a while. But the cancer of his wife got him back out there, and showed the media the face of a husband committed to his wife. He's a very loving, unselfish husband and I believe without trying...that helped him. Obviously his poll numbers nation wide are up!! And with the $14 million he raised, he's got his fair share of media time talking about how he is officially a competitive contender in this race.

Message wise, Edwards is on the money. He's got the right message on Iraq, and a lot of liberals are giving him a second look because of it. I personally think he's the most aggressive on healthcare, and has the best universal healthcare plan. And that's playing out well with voters. I heard Rev. Sharpton yesterday talking about how he liked Edwards message on poverty, and suggested maybe Edwards is more competitive with the African American community than we may think. And the FOX News debate pull out showed liberals and Democratic voters, he isn't afraid to stand up for what he believes--if he's the nominee.

So I think Edwards has a big chance. I hope he takes it!! Edwards obviously is behind the other two, but at this point does that mean anything? Let's hope he uses this time wisely, and shows the voters he's the best candidate. I like Clark and Gore, and if they get in I'll support them, but I have a deep respect for Senator Edwards. And I think he'll do a lot better than some expect. Senator Clinton, Obama isn't your only competition ;)

[waiting for hope]

1. He's the real deal -

Sorry - I've been a cheerleader for Edwards for some time now, I think this country would be well served by having him as President. He's been laying some heavy groundwork the last two years and it'll pay off in the long run.

[PresidentObama]

2. He's very underrated by some.

I think he's in to win, and he could do it!!

[Fovea]

3. He is certainly forthright about his progressive

convictions. Everybody else dances around or away from populism. Edwards has embraced the needs of middle class and working Americans more forthrightly than anyone else out there.

[Adelante]

4. Richardson is about as close to Edwards as Edwards is to Obama

In the money stakes, so Edwards is in the middle of the top and the bottom, which is a good position to be in, but Richardson shouldn't be counted out at all. Generally, this first quarter is a spectacle (in more ways than one) and it remains to be seen what comes when things settle in with the second quarter.

[PresidentObama]

5. No worries. I don't count Richardson out.

$6 million is very respectable. And we don't know the official Obama numbers. So I don't know if you can say that he's closer to Richardson. Yet!!

[liberal N proud]

6. If he stays on message and lets Obama & Hillary duke it out at the top

He will be poised to be the candidate after the others are all battered and bruised.

I like Edwards before any of the others at this point.

[Iwasthere]

7. I agree

Hillary and Obama will pound each other while John will slowly move up in the polls. I am looking forward to that. Very smart man, willing to publicly stand up for us. Obama is too inexperienced and Hillary is too careful.

[Adelante]

8. That's what I don't see happening

Edwards will go on jabbing Obama and Obama will have to start hitting back. I think they have to knock each other down before either one will be able to fight Hillary. Meanwhile, Richardson can keep inching up.

[PresidentObama]

10. I don't see that.

I see Obama and Clinton obsessing about one another, while Edwards sits back and does the ground work ignoring both of them. I think Edwards understands the way to win is talk about the issues with the voters, show them you're on their side, and avoid the bullshit back and forth fighting. He's spending his time wisely!!

[Adelante]

11. I disagree with everything you just said

But I love you anyways :hug:

[PresidentObama]

16. Awwww, I love you as well.

Much love for one of my favorite Clarkies :hug:

Do you think Wes will sing and dance for Presidential Idol?

:rofl:

In all seriousness....

Run, Wes run!!

[Dawgs]

12. When has Obama ever obsessed about Hillary?

That bullshit lie is just that, bullshit. It's a media talking point that many Democrats repeat. Unfortunately, it looks like the ones that are buying it support either Hillary or someone else.

Obama has never starting anything with Hillary. It's always been a response to something she has said or done.

[PresidentObama]

14. OK, calm down.

Don't have a stroke, please. Shall I re-phrase myself? Hillary obsess about Obama, and Obama merely has to defend himself. NO, that won't work the Hillary people will complain now. Oh, fuck it...I stick by what I said.

THEY OBSESS ABOUT EACH OTHER!! Face it, it's reality.

They're each others main competition. Just like Kerry obsessed about Dean, and Dean obsessed about Kerry. Well...yeah...

[Donnachaidh]

18. I think Obama and Hillary will cancel each other out

The public will get so fed up with the nitpicking bullshit and will turn on BOTH of them. And Edwards will be right there.

In a race being the frontrunner can be a real disadvantage. And this race has a decidedly long stretch run coming up.

[mnhtnbb]

35. Agreed.

[xxqqqzme]

9. I would feel much better voting

for Edwards than I would Hillary.

[JNelson6563]

13. Yeah, me too

:toast:

[PresidentObama]

17. I like both. But I would too n/t

[citizen snips]

15. agreed

In my opinion Edwards is reaching more people then he did the last time.

[The Count]

19. yeah, cuz who remembers IWR anymore?

http://www.congress.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:SJ00046:@@@P

[PresidentObama]

25. I surely don't. I also know Edwards didn't rush America into war.

Nor did Hillary, Dodd, Biden or Kerry.

[The Count]

27. he declared he would have started the war, were he POTUS at the time...

No other Democrat said this:



MATTHEWS: OK. I just want to get one thing straight so that we know how
you would have been different in president if you had been in office
the last four years as president. Would you have gone to Afghanistan?

EDWARDS: I would.

MATTHEWS: Would you have gone to Iraq?

EDWARDS: I would have gone to Iraq.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3131295 /

[BeyondGeography]

32. An inconvenient truth about Edwards

Matthews: Were we right to go to this war alone, basically without the Europeans behind us? Was that something we had to do?

EDWARDS: I think that we were right to go. I think we were right to go to the United Nations. I think we couldn’t let those who could veto in the Security Council hold us hostage.

And I think Saddam Hussein, being gone is good. Good for the American people, good for the security of that region of the world, and good for the Iraqi people.

MATTHEWS: If you think the decision, which was made by the president, when basically he saw the French weren’t with us and the Germans and the Russians weren’t with us, was he right to say, “We’re going anyway”?

EDWARDS: I stand behind my support of that, yes.

MATTHEWS: You believe in that?

EDWARDS: Yes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3131295/

[venable]

39. I'd be interested to see if you know anything else about Edwards

I know the IWR vote is critical to you, as you've said a million times.

Do you know anything else about Edwards?

Of course, you'll say you don't need to, as the vote disqualifies him to be president. Fine, I accept that you think that.

The question remains - do you know anything else about Edwards? Do you know why many progressives, including many as opposed to the Iraq war as your are, support him above others? Do you know why Krugman says his health care plan exceeds all others? Do you know what he's done for labor and anti-poverty causes?

I suspect you don't know.

[blm]

20. The party tends to play dumb - they never understand the value of treasuring

the insight gained from running in a national election, so they try to tear down any Dem who has run that race instead of valuing the person who has run, had it stolen by the GOP, and learned from even the small mistakes that were made.

In Gore, Kerry and Edwards' case, they all won their races, but had a Dem PARTY that never did its job countering the GOP's tactics used to supress and steal the votes they earned.

Then the Dem party elite turn around the blame from themselves and GOP election fraud onto those Dem leaders who ran and won those votes.

[The Count]

23. Gore let us all know he won. The other two are still mum....

Apparently that doesn't matter either.

[blm]

30. Gore had the evidence from the media's handcount.

Kerry and Edwards had no legal evidence to even get another recount let alone a full handcount.

Did YOU have a legal case you could have taken to court on Nov.3 to force a handcount?

Did YOU have a whistleblower that was ready to talk and admit they rigged machines?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

21. Obama's star will tarnish. His supporters won't go to Hillary.

That leaves them with Edwards or Richardson.

There are a number of Barackites in Chicago, and none of them that I have spoken to, not a one, will ever support Hillary.

[The Count]

22. Let's hope that the anti-war black man will disappear, so we can get the IWR

white sponsor in! (It's not like the GOP will spill the secret in the general election!) I can't believe what I am reading here!

[ripple]

24. I think the same could be said of a lot of Edwards supporters

if Edwards doesn't make the final cut, I look for his supporters to go to Obama, rather than Hillary. I don't foresee Richardson making it further than Edwards or Obama. Richardson, however, will likely endorse Hillary once he does drop out.

While I support Obama, I think Edwards has a pretty decent chance of surpassing him in the primaries. Both are vulnerable to any missteps, rather real or perceived. Since Edwards has been through this before, he probably has a slight edge in that regard.

In any case, things should get pretty interesting after super-duper Tuesday.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. I agree. I would be happy with either Obama or Edwards.

And having richardson as a VP would be great.

[The Count]

28. Who cares that one is anti-war, the other sponsored IWR - somehow they're both the same!

Du seems to be Colbert-like color blind...or is that war-blind?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

31. i never said that I am a 1 issue voter. I am not.

IraqNam is NOT the only issue. It is a big issue. It is a nasty issue. And hillary is far worse on that issue than anyone except McCain.

However, Obama and Edwards are a lot closer to where my thinking goes, far closer than any DLC-led, poll following, focus-groupie like Hillary.

[The Count]

36. Hillary only voted for IWR, Edwards co-sponsored it. War - the most disastruous

decision that W made - don't care if your candidate virtually made it too?

[ChairmanAgnostic]

37. to be fair, the most disasterous decision he made was hiring Darth as VP

everything went down hillarian since.

I've asked this of other Hillarious supporters here, but I cannot seem to get an answer, probably because my suspicions are correct.

Name one time that Hill took a strong stance on a tough issue, and exhibited leadership in the senate. Just one. Any one. PLease, at least one. One issue, one strong stance, one decision she led on. Just one. Any one.

Oh wait, she got ahead of the Dems by attacking Senator Kerry about a joke, which was totally based in truth. How about another one?

[IndianaGreen]

38. Hillary took strong stands to protect the flag and ban violent video games

Hillary stood alongside with Joe Lieberman to launch this crusade. How could you not have taken notice? It was on the same day that the Iraq Study Group issued its findings. While everyone was commenting on ISG's recommendations on a phased troop pullout from Iraq, Hillary and Lieberman were concentrating on more important priorities: save the flag, save us from video games!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

40. Damn, I missed it. sheesh. silly me.

bad anti, bad anti.

save a piece of multi-colored cloth? HOW STUPID IS THAT?

[The Count]

41. Actually, Joe voted against the flag ban. And these things are unimportant.

The war however is the single most important issue I care now. I want a POTUS who won't start other wars. (not supporting Hillary, obviously, just not getting why she is the only one tainted by the IWR while Edwards is sailing over his sponsorship)

[IndianaGreen]

44. Edwards has repented of IWR while Hillary remains unrepentant

and to make matters worse, she is repeating Bush's "all options are on the table" in regards to Iran.

[The Count]

42. That decision was made by Cheney himself. And the war was still worse.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

43. heh, the "decider" sure was decisive, eh?

and every foreign policy decision since then has been a total loser.

[AshevilleGuy]

29. Tweety and Tucker would shoot themselves.

To hear them you would think the only two Dems in the race are Hillary and Obama. I think they are both in love with Obama, especially.

But unfortunately, money IS everything in politics in this new century. Hillary's access to it seems to be unlimited - this is the machine effect of course. I am not sure Edwards can overcome that, unless she stumbles catastrophically. And she ain't gonna.

[flpoljunkie]

33. Perhaps you haven't watched Tweety lately. His newest man crush is on Fred Thompson.

I have not witnessed any great love for Obama or Hillary (Tweety is not a Clinton lover)--altho Tucker, like most Republicans would like to run their nominee, whoever he is, against Hillary--who will bring Republicans out to vote against her in record numbers.

Tweety just started his show saying the big news is not the money raised today but the big buzz is that Fred Thompson may enter the presidential field soon.

[AshevilleGuy]

34. Yeah, his show is on now.

Perhaps he is developing a crush on Fred, but for the past months, every word out of his big mouth has been Obama Obama Obama... Just as from Tucker and Wolf. I don't quite agree that Tucker's favorite Dem nominee would be Hillary - she would be his second choice.

[Gloria]

45. This is my hope. Billary is (are) the past and way too chummy with

Bush, way too willing to play with them.

Obama...well, I find him to be pompous, and he's not so hot in the interviews I've seen.

Edwards is coming into his own....