Bad news.

[cornermouse]

And no, I'm not a plant (accusation I saw elsewhere) because I don't have a star. Fact is I've been around for a while.

Yesterday at the office the independents and republicans who had been talking about voting for Edwards were expressing disappointment and talking about McCain with interest. I don't know how it's going to fare elsewhere but I think the tactic of going after independents and disaffected republicans will be a failure in the midwest.

Added: Thank you, mysterious person. :)

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. I don't think, I know you are right.

Here in MI, my husband had gotten several of his coworkers (independets and moderate repubs) to consider Edwards. Many of them considered McCain to be a maverick (:puke:) so there it is. Many forget that the majority of independents don't follow the race the way that committed Dems/Repubs do.

[saracat]

2. You are right .Another poster mentioned this and I know my "reregistered converts"

will vote for McCain. We are a party of asshats.Truly.

[99th_Monkey]

3. It's almost like the DNC is a GOP front organization

with "always give the GOP what it wants" as it's motto.

[saracat]

5. One almost has to wonder.And the only candidate capable of taking down McCain is forced into saying

he is suspending his campaign because Mccain is the likely GOP Nom? What is wrong with that picture?

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. I wondered the same thing.

What does McCain's nomination have to do with Edwards?

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. Irony kills

Democrats have chosen to throw their support behind two "moderates" who are trying to build a centrist coalition. In the process they have rejected the populist who not only better promotes progressive ideals but who was successful at attracting crossover voters.

We lost the crossover vote by pandering to "centrists".

I am not at all optimistic about November. Do I think that Hillary and Obama can win? Yes. Do I think that they will win? I consider the odds 45:55, and they absolutely won't bring any congressional success in their wake.

[mwb970]

7. So you think the Dems will *lose* seats in Congress?

...they absolutely won't bring any congressional success in their wake.

So you are predicting a Republican president and a Republican Senate and a Republican House after the election? Not many are saying this these days! You're either out of your mind or brilliant. We'll see which.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I always thought words should come out of my mouth.

Lots of congressional elections will hang on the thinnest of margins. Those elections will not swing dem on the basis of our strong candidate at the top of the ticket. I doubt we'll lose seats, but I think there is no way we'll win more than a slim majority of those up for election.

This presidential election could go either way. Neither Obama nor Hillary are strong against McCain.

[Andy Canuck]

12. The Dems are going to soundly win Congress but

without the populist vote getter, the Presidency is now up for grabs.

[mwb970]

16. Sorry, I should have asked you what you were saying.

Instead of telling you! I do think McCain has a decent chance, but I am much less pessimistic about Congress than you seem to be.

How many R's have resigned from the House already? Is it still 28, or did another one leave in the last hour? They've been dropping out at about one a day. Of course, some will be replaced by other R's, but not all IMHO.

[cali]

13. Patrick Leahy, Barbara Lee, Teddy Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy

80 U.S. attorneys representing Guantanamo Bay detainess, George Lakoff, and many other progressives and liberals disagree with you that Barack Obama is a moderate. And Barack Obama has had more success than JE at attracting crossover voters. But don't let reality get in the way of your spin.

There are now millions more registered dems than registered republicans.

And how much do you even know about Congressional races? Do you know how many repuke reps aren't running for re-election? Do you know what districts they're from? Do you know what Senate seats we're likely to pick up? Do you know what Senate seats we almost certainly will pick up? Do you know who's raised more for Senate and House seats? Have you looked at election maps and analysis of House and Senate seats?

Dems are posed to do very well in Senate and House races. And the odds favor a dem president- even running against McPain.

[Jeanette in FL]

6. An independent I spoke to yesterday after the Edwards withdrawal

Said that he is now going to support Ron Paul. :wtf: Don't ask me how you go from supporting Edwards to Ron Paul, I do not know.

When I said to him that Paul will never get the nomination, that it will probably be McCain, he said that would be fine with him.

As MrsGrumpy said above, Independents and disenfranchised Republicans do not follow the candidates as we do on DU and only know of the media creations.

I have no idea how this is going to pan out now.

[Berry Cool]

17. "Independents and disenfranchised Republicans do not follow the candidates as we do on DU

and only know of the media creations" is not entirely true.

I'm an independent. I am on DU. I wouldn't vote for a Republican now if you paid me. At this point in history, I am as close as I will probably ever get to being a yellow-dog Democrat.

But you're right when you say that it's easy for many people like me to just look at the image of a McCain and say "Old, grizzled guy...seems nice...war hero...survived being a POW...yeah, he's safe."

That does NOT mean that they'd necessarily go for him over the two Dem choices left. It just means that, yeah, he's a threat, and if you know of anyone who hasn't really thought about this much up to now, you need to make them think about who McCain really is and what he would do. So that they will vote for anyone else.

[Selatius]

10. Economic populism often does cross political party boundaries. Edwards' is a testament to that, but.

I have to say that it seems many independent voters are truly misinformed or uninformed in terms of McCain's economic policy or even Ron Paul's economic policy. Edwards' stance is completely opposed to the right wing stance pushed by Paul or McCain.

[cali]

11. Edwards supporters seem to be comforting themselves in an odd way

by recounting personal anecdotes about people who will vote republican because JE has dropped out of the race. Thankfully, real world evidence indicates that Hillary Clinton brings in lots of women and BO brings young people, indies and even dissafected repukes to the polls.

John Edwards was not the only electable dem. It's not even clear that he was the most electable.

[cornermouse]

14. I work with 99% women.

I'm sorry you don't like what my co-workers were saying yesterday but that doesn't change the fact that they are typical and, I think, representative of the general mindset around here.

[radfringe]

15. so give up, stay home

and hunker down for at least another 4 years of complaining about the repubs