When does Edwards drop out?

[ringmastery]

Would he continue on to Texas and Florida even if he gets wiped out tomorrow and loses all the Super Tuesday states?

What would be the point?

[Tank in Texas]

1. Don't Get Your Hopes Up

First of all that is not going to happen, especially in Ohio, Minnesota and Georgia. Look at the latest polls and then look at Edwards' performance with:

1- voters changing their mind in the three days prior to a contest.

2- Independent and Republican cross-over voters.

You might not see Edwards win NY or CA but you will see him win 1-2 states. Also, Kerry will not achieve a BIG win in any of the states that matter.

This isn't a coronation folks, despite the fact that certain parties seem to have wanted it to be one.

Edwards should not drop out of the race until he runs out of money (not likely anytime soon) or is mathematically eliminated. I am looking forwards to an interesting convention in August.

[FreeSpeechCrusader]

12. "Kerry will not achieve a BIG win in any of the states that matter."

So...who picks which states matter?

[Tank in Texas]

17. ALL of them matter... some offer more delegates.

Don't forget what Zogby calls the Edwards factor- almost every poll has been off every primary this year. Edwards ALWAYS closes strong and beats the expectations.

[liberalnurse]

2. November 4th after he wins the Presidency.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Resign the day he's elected?

That would be one short presidency.

[Dedalus]

3. The point is...

...to keep people interested in the race and keep media coverage of the issues going. There's a great article on democraticunderground.com right now about this very subject. Once the nomination is de facto won by someone (at this point, you and others would presume this person to be Kerry), all the free coverage stops. Plus, the GOP would be able to concentrate all their attacks on one person, rather than having to spread themselves thin. In short, the longer the nomination is up in the air, the better it is for the Party.

[MaineDem]

4. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[surfermaw]

30. You got it

free air time, it is better to battle with Edwards and to have to pay for air time to battle Bush...giving Kerry a time to have his stay, I say all four stay in as long as they can//////and that is what the party wants....

[newyawker99]

32. Hi Dedalus!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tryanhas]

5. Probably after...

...Diebold makes sure that Kerry wins everywhere tomorrow.

[Tank in Texas]

6. Don't Let Conspiracy theories Decide This!

OR what happens in November. Vote anyway!

[tryanhas]

7. I wouldn't vote for Kerry...

...if the Bush administration or Kerry's HYPOTHETICAL administration threatened to send me to Guantanimo Bay.

[elixir]

8. There is no point. He has no opportunity here to challenge Kerry.

John Edwards has been running on his optimistic stump speech and little else. With only one primary state under his belt and some poor seconds, he has no reason to be optimistic. It's unfortunate that Wes Clark dropped out of the race and Edwards stayed in.

My biggest fear is that he's staying in to get the VP slot. I'm not convinced he would bring enough weight to the ticket - I guess I'm really nervous about November.

[efront]

10. Poor seconds?

Like Iowa, Oklahoma and Wisconsin? What "strong seconds" did Clark get that makes you wish he stayed in, as opposed to Edwards. Did Clark have any seconds even as strong as Edwards' seconds in TN, VA or MO?

[jenk]

11. no, but he did have some weak fourths and fifths!

:)

[FreeSpeechCrusader]

14. Yeah...look who's talking

Edwards wins his birth state. Clark beats Edwards in a state that Edwards had been campaigning for a year. Clark finishes better overall on Feb. 3, but for some reason...the media hounds Clark to get out while casting it as a two man race between Kerry and Edwards. Yeah that makes sense... :P

[efront]

22. lol. Do you actually believe

the bullshit as you're typing it? Clark spent the entire week leading up to Feb 3 in Oklahoma and Edwards still came within 1200 votes of him. I don't think Edwards was in OK that week leading up to the primary. Also, you didn't answer the question. Did Clark have a second place as strong as Edwards' in MO, VA or TN (weaker seconds for Edwards than IA, OK and WI)???

[Tank in Texas]

15. bull.

[FreeSpeechCrusader]

18. what exactly was bull?

present something to challenge

[Tank in Texas]

19. elixer's post, if you'll follow the thread.

[GreenArrow]

9. Wednesday morning

.

[BruinAlum]

13. I have mixed feeling about Edwards dropping out.

On the one hand his staying in keeps the focus on Bush longer and the debates allow a free platform to fire away at Bush. On the other hand I read somewhere here that the DNC cannot start their ads against Bush until a nominee is settled on, so there would be an advantage to Edwards dropping out after tomorrow. That is assuming Edwards doesn't win any of tomorrow's primaries, which looks to be the case accodrding to the polls.

[leyton]

24. I don't think we need the ads if we've got the debates.

Every time the Democrats debate, there's an article in the paper, and it usually makes the front page of Cnn.com or msnbc.com. It tends to generate discussion. If we air a thirty-second slot, it won't get as much coverage, and the coverage won't be as substantive. I also think that it looks slightly better for a candidate to stick it to Bush than the DNC because the DNC is purely partisan, while candidates are only mostly partisan.

[BruinAlum]

25. Oh yes we do need the ads!

The Bush machine is starting theirs next week. And the debates are only running on cable - not the regular networks.

Candidates are only mostly partisan? LOL!;-)

[Hippo_Tron]

16. If he looses all 10 tommorow, he'll drop out...

If he wins 2 or 3 he can continue on to Texas/Florida/Louisiana and try to win it big there.

[Disturbed]

20. Campain

If Edwards wins a few states he should stay the course because the "Liberal" Media will cover the horse race. Looks like Kucinich and Sharpton will stay the course. I would love to see Kucinich win the nom but know damn well he won't. Maybe he can get a bit of his platform into the plank. The "Liberal" Media would like to see the most moderate Dem win the nom so that their Empire won't be threatened.

[Hippo_Tron]

28. The problem is...

The "liberal" media will only cover the horse race until it's over. In addition, Edwards is actually in the race to become the democratic nominee, unlike Sharpton and Kucinich who are in it to get a message accross. And even if Edwards were to stay in after loosing all 10 Super Tuesday states, the media would declare it over and stop covering the primaries.

[MoonRiver]

21. Who knows.

I just hope I don't have to hear about his mill worker father again.

[jansu]

23. No one should drop out! It's about the delegates and taking it to the

floor of the convention!

[Lexingtonian]

26. Yep, on the 10th.

His campaign has already set up in those states and he does well in the Deep South- which on the 9th is for practical purposes not just Louisiana and Mississippi but northern Florida and eastern Texas. It's too good an opportunity to pass up.

There isn't any way Kerry would offer Edwards the VP job- unless he has an absurd desire to get stabbed in back often and deal with a sideshow competitor for a pile of years.

The point is that Edwards is the race to raise his profile nationally. The obvious reason would be to get all he can out of his first run at the office. Another would be some desire for a federal appointment job that is high profile- though I can't think of one that really fits his abilities all that well. He doesn't have the instincts or background for AG, and that would be the obvious. Maybe UN Ambassador or something of the kind? But he needs some job to tide him over until 2008, when North Carolina has shifted far enough to be a swing state and he can get back into high elective office with ease (Governor, Senator).

[Columbia]

27. In 2012

After his second term.

[lurk_no_more]

31. Even if he gets wiped out tomorrow and loses all the Super Tuesday states?

That's a pretty safe bet, the son of a mill worker only goes so far.



And then there were none!
” JAFO”