Edwards To Drop Bid Today; Rudy Slinks Off

TPM had the news. Thus ends the Reilly Household schism: we'll both be voting Obama on February 5th.

I've posted before on wavering between Obama and Edwards before settling on Edwards. I'm a policy guy, and I ultimately chose Edwards because we were 100% on the same page when it comes issues like poverty and health care. My one concern about Edwards was whether he could close the deal - he's got the talent, and his heart is in the right spot, but he's missing that intangible quality that creates a movement. I would love to see John Edwards as Attorney General in an Obama administration . . . even as Vice President.

Obama, on the other hand . . . radiates that charisma of which mass movements are formed. I think its vital for him to hone his message better, but the delivery can't be beat. Obama is the anti-Kerry.

In other news, the creepy, petty tyrant and former Mayor of 9/11 Rudy Giuliani also dropped out of the race today. I'm hoping he crawls into a hole and disappears for a few years, and takes his execrable foreign policy advisor Norman Podhoretz with him.

John Edwards in NYC Today

From a friend:

John Edwards will be in New York taping The Late Show with David Letterman.

He will be entering the building at 4 pm and leaving at around 5:30 pm.

It would be great to have supporters there with signs when he arrives and when he leaves. It would be good for the press to know what support he has in NYC and it would also let the Senator know that we are here for him. You can go at 4 or 5:30, or stay for both, if you are a hardy soul.

This is informal so just show up if you can and make some noise! I’m going to pop out of work and be there by 4 pm. The Letterman Show tapes at around 52nd and Broadway and I’m thinking the Senator will enter/exit at one of the side doors.

Also, let your friends know that he will be on that night!

The Toxic Role of the Vacuous Beltway Media

Glenn Greenwald has a great post on the way the establishment media corrupts the discourse. Of note among many transgressions is the under-reporting on John Edwards, who has been largely ignored by this crowd, despite . . . well anything he does. Unless he gets a haircut. That, of course, is hard news.

I'll update this when I get a chance, just wanted to get a quick post in. But look at the dramatic improvement in Edwards national numbers over the past 11 days . . . and yet, the dominant narrative is about a Clinton-Obama race. The narrative is false; Hillary WILL NOT be the Democratic nominee. The ultimate choice will be between Obama and Edwards. I like 'em both, but Edwards is the more progressive candidate.

Ultimately, the ONLY way we can lose the election is by nominating Clinton. And I don't think itwill happen.

John Edwards Poll Numbers

This sentence from drunken hobo Joe Klein sparked a thought:

The fact that the two leading Democratic candidates, Obama and Clinton, are
essentially running moderate campaigns--and that John Edwards' populism hasn't exactly caught fire--is an indication that the Democratic base isn't nearly as partisan as the Post seems to think it is.

I've said before and I'll say again, I think John Edwards platform and rhetoric is dead on. Edwards, I fear, hasn't had that special something, charisma, magnetism, je ne sais quoi, whatever, to make it resonate.

But maybe it's just the timing. Watch the housing market. We are headed into a recession in this country, though most people have no idea it's coming. The economic situation is going to get steadily worse between now and the election . . . and as it does, Edwards' star might start to shine a little brighter.

And apropos of nothing, my prediction is, Hillary will not be the Democratic candidate in 2008.