Could Edwards Finish 2nd In South Carolina?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Edwards, Hillary, Polls, South Carolina
Zogby shows him getting closer and closer to Hillary over the past few days, with Obama leading by a pretty solid 13%.
Clinton won 25% support, up one point from the day before but now just four points ahead of former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who continued to increase support and now sits at 21%.Edwards has been edging upwards since Zogby International has been reporting its tracking survey ahead of Saturday’s vote. He is up six points in the past two days. Some of Edwards’ new support appears to be coming from voters who had been undecided. A day ago, 13% of likely voters were undecided, but now just 7% said they weren’t sure whom they’d vote for, the latest survey shows.
So what if Edwards finished 2nd or even a very, very close 3rd? Could that give him a shot in the arm to move forward? Would he start to split Clinton’s vote if he did keep going? And what would another 3rd place win for Hillary do to her credibility on Super Tuesday?
Still, one has to ask the obvious question…does Edwards have much credibility when it comes to leading the country or is it mostly hype? Ed Morrissey parses through a column by Krauthammer and comes up with this…
Edwards, Krauthammer points out, only served a single term in the Senate, and spent half of it running for President in the 2004 cycle. He spent the last year repudiating his entire three years in public office. The entire message appeared to be, “Vote for me — I got duped!”
The “Experience? What experience?” meme once again plagues a Dem frontrunner, and it looks like a hole too big for Edwards to climb out of.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Democrats, Edwards, Hillary, Polls, South Carolina. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
In my view, Edwards has sufficient experience to succeed in the Oval Office, assuming he wins the nomination and general election. If you watch the debates or listen to him in interviews, he has a strong command of the issues and his positions and avoids BS or feel-good babble, which is more than can be said of any of the candidiates in either party, save for maybe McCain and Huckabee on the Republican side. Edwards’ ability to call it like he sees it is a product of his life’s experience. He’s bright enough to fill in the gaps (if any) created by his not spending his adult life inside the Beltway schmoozing with lobbyists and bureaucrats. I don’t think “I was duped” is a just way to characterize his positions. There are votes that he has stated, unconditionally, that he regrets, without making any excuses. If a person is not allowed to mature in their political (or philosophical) thoughts and ideals, we all mind as well stick to the views we had when we were 18. If you look at this election cycle, you will see that Edwards has focused the debate (on both sides, Republican and Democract) and been out front on his position on all issues. End the War in Iraq within the first year, fix our economy by investing in it, end our dependence on oil and greenhouse gases by investing and promotive alternative energies … and he has a plan to pay for these initiatives. No other candidate is more clear and promising on the issues than Edwards. And for those who gripe that his populist tendencies would be bad for our economy, wake up. Our new economy is consumer driven, and the majority of consumers are on the bottom of the payroll food chain. An Edwards Presidency would be the perfect cure for the past eight (some might even say 16) years of incompetence.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Edwards has sufficient experience to succeed in the Oval Office, assuming he wins the nomination and general election. If you watch the debates or listen to him in interviews, he has a strong command of the issues and his positions and avoids BS or feel-good babble, which is more than can be said of most of the candidiates in either party, save for maybe McCain and Huckabee on the Republican side. Edwards’ ability to call it like he sees it is a product of his life’s experience. He’s bright enough to fill in the gaps (if any) created by his not spending his adult life inside the Beltway schmoozing with lobbyists and bureaucrats. I don’t think “I was duped” is a just way to characterize his positions. There are votes that he has stated, unconditionally, that he regrets, without making any excuses. If a person is not allowed to mature in their political (or philosophical) thoughts and ideals, we all mind as well stick to the views we had when we were 18. If you look at this election cycle, you will see that Edwards has focused the debate (on both sides, Republican and Democract) and been out front on his position on all issues. End the War in Iraq within the first year, fix our economy by investing in it, end our dependence on oil and greenhouse gases by investing and promotive alternative energies … and he has a plan to pay for these initiatives. No other candidate is more clear and promising on the issues than Edwards. And for those who gripe that his populist tendencies would be bad for our economy, wake up. Our new economy is consumer driven, and the majority of consumers are on the bottom of the payroll food chain. An Edwards Presidency would be the perfect cure for the past eight (some might even say 16) years of incompetence.
January 25th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
[...] (hat tip: Donklephant) [...]
January 26th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Edwards federal governmental experience exceeds Obama’s by 3 years to date. Obama truly only has about one year since he’s been running for pres for the last two.
Hillary has about the same experience as Edwards, since she too has been spending much of the last year or two courting the presidency.
If go back to GW Bush in 2000, we find a total of 6 years as governor before ascending to the pres. Lincoln had far less than all of the above.
So in short the experience argument when assigned to Edwards is a red herring that baears no weight. Of course reality and politics are not always partners.
January 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
If Democrats feel that any of the three candidates would be better than any Republican, then, the next question should be: Who is more likely to defeat any Republican?
A reality check is in order. I believe, that while it is laudable to aim for the ideal, it is foolish to disregard the real.
What are the chances of an African American to be elected president? It cannot be done with mostly black support. More so, since not all African Americans automatically vote for a black candidate. As for whites, increasingly we see the divide. whites voting mostly white; black mostly black.
Are we living in a color blind society?Obama’s middle name Hussain, ideally it should not make any difference, in reality there are enough people to whom it is worrisome.
There are many issues that are in fact color blind: war, homelessness, poverty,
injustice…..lack of jobs, health care, pensions..education. All these issues might be BORING, but they are real. Maybe reality is BORING.
Let’s watch Opra-I do- It’s entertaining, it’s fun. For a few moments I forget my problems. I think of how to wear my hair, or what book would be wonderful to read…But then, it is time to prepare dinner…..
The young and affluent don’t have to worry about such things… they will graduate form college, their parents are paying, and they are sure they will get lucrative jobs. Let’s sing!!
What about Obama’s Afro Centric church? His 17 year association with Rezko ( Syrian descent) -well, birds of a feather…… Experience? The Republicans should have enough to work with..
Hillary? Think of it. The press (who ignores Edwards) talks about her campaign as Billary’s quest for the White House. Need I say more. As Ronmey already has said are the American people ready to have Bill running around the White House without anything to do.. It has begun..
Sometimes, as I listen to pundits, young adults, Oprah….etc. it seems that this is some kind of TV movie, a carnival, a time to have fun…fun (a word used by Chris Matthews);
I think it is a time to think, consider, reflect….
Unless, Democrats don’t mind the possibility of another Republican president; they should step back and think….It is a serious choice, it demands serious consideration.