"Steal this message"

[renie408]

Or better still, JUST VOTE FOR JOHN EDWARDS!!!


>>If Democrats won't nominate John Edwards for president, they should at least run on his message.

Why Edwards hasn't climbed out of the pack is a mystery to me. Beyond his superficial assets—good looks, youth, Southern heritage—he's got an agile mind and a natural ability to relate to people. He's put together a sensible set of policies. He's been running TV ads for weeks but hasn't cracked the top three in Iowa or New Hampshire. Maybe that will change, and Edwards will get to carry his banner into the general election. But if he doesn't, whoever beats him should pick it up and carry it in his stead.

Edwards uses a bunch of themes: I'm one of you, I'm an optimist, I'll spread opportunity, I'll fight the powerful interests, etc. But the important theme, the one that really cuts, is about wealth vs. work. It's a more sophisticated version of the class warfare message Al Gore used in 2000. Gore said he would fight the powerful because they were powerful. Edwards adds a moral dimension: The economy depends on virtue as well as money, and virtue lies in work. The reason to fight for the working class isn't just that it has less money, but that it shows more virtue.<<


http://slate.msn.com/id/2088427/

[Rooktoven]

1. Better yet, back the message-bearer

He's the best hope, and would give us the biggest margin of victory.

[diamondsoul]

2. I agree completely with the excerpt.

I don't understand why Edwards isn't farther ahead myself, to be honest. He's left-leaning, but not so much so that it should be a detriment for him. Most of his ideas are still close enough to the moderate range that he ought to have a well varied support base at least as strong as Howard Dean's. I'm genuinely mystified by it.

[Egnever]

3. Well I know this will get me attacked but...

Here is why I think Edwards hasnt gotten too far yet.

His working as a "ambulance chaser" holds him back. I know he represented little people against injustice from large corporate henchmen. But a majority of americans are distrustfull of lawyers and Edwards was painted as the Mcdonalds coffee candidate early.

It hurts him.

Another thing I think are his looks. I know its shallow but even though the man is 50 he apears much younger. There are a lot of people out there that associate looking old with being a capable leader. Standing next to kerry Edwards looks like a whippersnaper.
I know its a BS reason. I think its holding him back though.

Lack of experience is another hard one for people I think and his young looks dont help him here. less than a full term senator and he wants to jump to president. I am not trying to say he wouldnt do a good job. But I think a lot of people hold that bias and i think it holds him back.

From the apearances I have seen him in the past he has come off as evasive. It gives the impression of being unable to take a stand and I think people are fed up with "polititians".

I will say though that in the last few weeks he has been looking way better, If he keeps looking and sounding as good as he has in the past month or so I think he can give it a good run. Theres a long way to go yet.

I would hapily vote for Edwards over bush, but for now my money is on dean.

OK go ahead and beat my head against the wall :bounce:

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

6. Although Edwards is my #2 choice

I have to agree with you on much of your reasoning. I really like what Edwards has to say, and every debate I like him more. Sadly, he hasn't been able to get his message out there. I hope he stays in the race for the long haul, and learns a lot so he can run a stronger campaign in the future (if he doesn't win this time around).

[diamondsoul]

8. Whoah!!! 50?!?! No way!

I had to go look it up to be sure! I would never in a million years have believed John Edwards was that much older than me!

I think you may be right about his appearance, though. I'm not so sure about the lawyering holding him back but the appearance I definitely think does.

Even so I think now, with Clark in the race, he may pull ahead some. I hope he does. He's in my current top three, so I guess we'll see how it plays out.

[sandnsea]

4. My new theory

John Edwards is a lawyer. A lawyer doesn't put all his cards on the table all at once. It's quite possible that in a lawyer's mind, the trial hasn't even begun. We've been in pre-trial all summer, for sure. If he's running this campaign with that kind of thinking, I look for him to start pumping it up. Elizabeth's speech is just one example. Start putting a little out at a time and build momentum as people pay more and more attention. Like the whole trial lawyer thing. All he says so far is that he's been helping people his whole life. Seems to me, he could say a whole lot more on that account. About the cases, things he's learned about corporate America, the children involved. Not the specific children necessarily, just the circumstances. Yesterday he said after being in D.C., he *really* knows just how much it does need to be changed. Was he laying some groundwork? What else is he planning on telling us about that? If he can win the nomination and not play any final cards, he gives Bush less to work with going into Presidential debates.

At least I hope so because I'd sure like to hear what a small town boy learned about the CEO's and politicos that are ruining this country.

[renie408]

5. Yup

I heard that statement as laying the groundwork to fend of the inexperience thing. I think it is the start of saying, "I'm experienced enough to know what we need to change, but haven't been around so long that I am in sombody's pocket and I don't owe anybody anything." I am sure that he will say it a lot better than that.

His campaign still maintains that they are following the plan they laid down at the beginning of the year. They are looking to peak at the beginning of January. It is a gamble, but it seems like a calculated one.

I do know that more and more, the people I talk to are saying good things about him. This morning NPR did a very nice piece on him and even the local stations, which had been giving him a hard time, started looking a little more favorably on him.

[AP]

7. Althought I agree with part of this.

Anybody who really wants to be the nominee would be crazy to want to be first in the polls too long before the first primary. When you're trying to Johnny Appleseed your meta-message (ie, trying to plant the seeds of what you stand for far and wide, letting them take root slowly, and grow into big, sturdy characteristics) the last thing you want to do is have that target on your back and have to spend 2/3rds of your marketing budget responding to attacks from everyone else who is trying to define you.

That's why Clinton spent a year going around getting money among the richest 100 or so democratic donors before he took his message to the public. And, because he was able to plant those seeds about who he was first, he was able to better withstand the eventual attacks which started in about January 92, rather than in September 91.

So, I agree with the idea that Edwards probable is strategically not trying to be number one (and he's raising the money which proves that's he's relatively successful in the area he shold be concentrating upon).

HOWEVER, after spending all that time in NH, you'd think he'd be higher that 2% in the polls. Even considering that 10 people are running, that the national media pretends Dean and Clark are the only people running, and the local media focuses on te Kerry-Dean fight (with a little attention paid to Lieberman too), you'd think Edwards should be at about 8-11% at this point. Maybe the polls are skewed (maybe the names are asked in an order that hurts him, like his name is listed second last between Mosley-Braun and Sharpton).

The good news is that everyone who sees him likes him. But there's a very concerted effort everywhere (especially at DU) to spin his campaign as a run for the VP. It's not true, but it definitely changes perceptions of his campaign which probably hurts him.

Anyway, the next few months will be interesting. I still think that he has the best chance at the nomination if think in terms of trajectory.

Incidentally, the Las Vegas odds for him are 20 to 1, so that might be a sensible bet.