Edwards Plays Chess...

[kentuck]

It seems to me, from just watching the live event with Edwards on C-SPAN, that Edwards is playing very smart political chess in New Hampshire. This is no place for the checker players.

After last night's debate, they said he had made a "deal" with Obama to bring Hillary down. But, today, as he complimented Obama on being an agent of change, he pointed out to the audience that being for change by itself was not enough. You had to have the courage and backbone to fight for that change. He insinuated that he was the only one with that desire to fight.

At that same time, he complimented the strength of the women in his life, including Elizabeth, in an attempt to cut into the women's support for Hillary. It was a genius move, in my opinion. John Edwards is honing his message in NH and may surprise everyone with his finish. At the present time, he is garnering 12% of the vote. Anyone want to bet that he doesn't do better than that?

By the way, he said he was staying in the race all the way to the Convention in Denver.

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. I watched part of it, missed where he said he was staying in all the way to the convention.

That's good too hear!

[begin_within]

8. He said that this morning on George Stephanopolis' show

[CorpGovActivist]

2. Chess KICK!

My favorite http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2533210&mesg_id=2533210">game.

- Dave

[spooky3]

3. I'm an Edwards supporter but I have a little different view of this

I don't think they made a deal. When Edwards touched Obama's right arm, he didn't seem too pleased; it was a small issue but probably shouldn't have been done. These four people are competitors right now, not teammates.

I don't think that complimenting the women in his life will affect the women who support Hillary Clinton. A lot of women support Clinton because they agree with her on the issues, because their life was better when Bill Clinton was president than with * and they view Bill Clinton's advice and HRC's involvement to be valuable, because they have encountered in their working life what they perceive Clinton to have encountered, and because, when given a choice among three or four qualified candidates, they would prefer the female candidate. Edwards cannot change at least two of these factors, so he's not going to be able to peel off much of her support from this subgroup, but if he wants to appeal to at least some of the women who support Clinton or who haven't decided yet, he needs to keep emphasizing his record on issues concerning work-related issues, health care, etc.

According to some of the Iowa polls, unmarried women went more heavily for Obama than for the other candidates, which is interesting, and they turned out heavily. If any candidate would be more inclusive of unmarried men and women of all ages, who are a much larger proportion of the electorate than they were even 10 years ago, that might be a winning strategy.

[kentuck]

4. I agree that there was no "deal" between Edwards and Obama...

but some people were saying that.

I don't think we can say that all women are already firmly committed to one candidate or another or that some cannot switch from candidate or another. I think Edwards support from those folks that had experienced tragedy in their lives will cause many women voters to give him another look. Whether he planned it that way or not, I think it will be very effective for him politically.

[spooky3]

7. no, that's not what I said. Please go back and re-read it.

I agree that Edwards has a lot of female supporters, and uncommitted voters of both sexes may become more supportive as they learn more about him personally and policy-wise.

[kentuck]

9. Sorry if I misunderstood your post...

"I don't think that complimenting the women in his life will affect the women who support Hillary Clinton."

I think some of those supporters might be affected. Maybe?

[bigtree]

5. he has a shot and he's making most of the right moves

it helps that his economic appeal meshes with the concerns of folks in NH.

Clinton slipping. Obama's blip settles. Edwards slips into second, and, on to South Carolina . . . mebbe. I'm banking on it, in any case.

[begin_within]

6. Chess, as they say, is a game of inches.

Oh wait, that's football. No, golf. No, tennis.

[2hip]

10. He's thinking two moves ahead

Edwards revealed how he'll frame his opponents when he was on Olbermann last week......

He said Clinton represented the Status Quo and Obama is the only other "Change" candidate but his approach is "intellectual" and "philosophical"...somebody who "just talks about it, for whom it's more of a political issue...the politicians are going to do the political thing."

He’s appears to have a two-part strategy to pick off one opponent at a time. First he's distinguishing the Change-Makers from the Status Quo, then later he'll distinguish the Change-Makers, one from the other. When it’s Obama’s turn to be the target, he’ll be painted as a same old-same old - gasp - politician, which will soon become a dirty word (and a handy frame in which to hang the GOP candidates too, when he earns the Dem nomination!)




      Edwards '08 tees!

[Buns_of_Fire]

11. That was the way I saw it last night...

First, pick off Clinton (or at least bring her down a notch or two), while still overtly aligning himself with another "agent of change" (that being Obama). In the meantime, he's trying to position himself to remain at least a strong second. When the time is right, and Hillary has been somewhat neutralized, it would be time for him to start differentiating himself as a better "agent of change" than Obama.

I saw those lawyerly eyes of his settling at half-mast while the others were speaking and he was plotting his next move, yes I did. The man ain't no dummy.

(That being said, none of them are, of course -- but the play is too far along for any of them to change their roles significantly. Time will tell who picked the best script.)

[earth mom]

12. Obama & Clinton & all the talking heads underestimated Edwards.

Edwards kicked BOTH their butts and is already several steps ahead of them. I love it! :rofl:

[K Gardner]

13. Bingo.