John Edwards for President? for Friday, November 9, 2007

In this Reuters article titled, funnily, "Hillary Clinton defends Bill for defending her" where Hillary responded to questions about Bill Clinton after her stumbling in the last Democratic debate and Bill Clinton's over the top comparison of criticism of Hillary to the Swif-boating of John Kerry:

Was she comfortable with Bill's role in the campaign? she was asked.

"Absolutely," Clinton said. "I am so happy to have his help in this campaign. He obviously counsels and advises me every single day."

...Arianna Huffington, editor of the liberal blog, Huffingtonpost.com, was not impressed by the former president's efforts recently.

"He's becoming a liability," she told MSNBC. "Send him to Africa."

Iowa on January 3 holds the first of the state-by-state battles to choose the Democratic and Republican candidates who will vie for the U.S. presidential election on November 4, 2008.

A win in Iowa can generate momentum for the next state contest in New Hampshire, and beyond, and Clinton is locked in a three-way battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

This group was courted by all the candidates, and the group's staff and volunteers attended 550 campaign events and asked more than 250 questions of the candidates before making a decision today according to this AP story:

Caucus4Priorities, a group headed by Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, backed the Democratic presidential candidate on Friday. The group, dedicated to cutting wasteful Pentagon spending, says it has 10,000 Iowa members who promise to vote for Edwards in the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Cohen, chairman of the Iowa organization and founder of the national Priorities Action Fund, joined Edwards at a news conference to announce his endorsement.

He said the next president needs to cast off "obsolete weapons from a bygone era that do nothing to protect us from today's threats."

"Our politicians in Washington have neither the spine nor the whit to make these choices, and the people who end up paying the price are our kids," Cohen said. "Well, the jig is up, and Iowa is leading the change."

Edwards will do whatever it takes to keep the country safe, but he won't do it at the expense of other priorities, Cohen said.

According to this Baltimore Sun story dated November 9, 2007:

Edwards said, the biggest difference between himself and Obama was that each has a different approach on what needs to be done to reform Washington.

"I've heard him talk about compromise, negotiation, bringing people together," Edwards said. "I believe there's a fight in front of us."

Edwards said he didn't believe oil, health care, insurance and defense contractors "are going to give up their power willingly."

"I don't think we can all sit around a table and be nice to them and think they're going to relinquish the power and influence they have today. I think it has to be taken from them. And that means you've got to have somebody that will fight. I know that I will fight. I'll let Sen. Obama speak for himself on that."

According to this op-ed by author and political analyst David Sirota that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle:

The media's version of the Iowa presidential caucuses is a story of five candidates and two rivalries. On the Democratic side, it is Sen. HillaryClinton, D-N.Y., against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and on the Republican side it is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson. But the numbers suggest the most compelling story is about two underdog candidates and one demographic: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), former Sen. JohnEdwards (D) and the middle class.

Huckabee gained 11 points in the latest University of Iowa survey, pulling himself into a statistical tie for second place with Giuliani, despite Giuliani's national fame and huge fundraising totals. Similarly, Edwards remains within striking distance of first place in Iowa despite his rivals spending 300 times what he's spent on television ads as of the end of September (Edwards launched his first ad last week).

What explains the unlikely rise of these two dark horses?

It's the populism, stupid.

Huckabee and Edwards are the only two major candidates staking their campaigns on an indictment of economic inequality, corporate power and corruption. As the latest Democracy Corps poll shows, these are the very societal ills angering a middle class whose real-life struggles with stagnant wages, layoffs, debt, foreclosures and health care costs chafe against a pop culture and political system that glorify fabulous affluence. The country, in short, seems ready to embrace Huey Long's "Share Our Wealth" ethos, and these two southerners are resurrecting the best of the famed Louisiana governor's legacy.

....Edwards presents arguably the boldest challenge to the political Establishment of any major presidential candidate in contemporary history. Proposing sweeping health care, tax, trade and labor law reform, he says the only way "people who are powerful in Washington" are "going to give awaytheir power is if we take it away from them." The system, he says, is"controlled by big corporations, the lobbyists they hire to protect their bottom line and the politicians who curry their favor and carry their water."