I confess a fondness for Edwards
This WaPo story details the various stop-Dean strategies being used by the other candidates, spending a lot of time on Clark especially. However, to my mind the most interesting part was about Edwards:
Edwards is doomed - even if he places in the top three in Iowa, he won't crack that threshold in New Hampshire, where it's almost assuredly going to be a Dean win and a race between Kerry and Clark for slot 2 and 3. In Iowa, the best he can hope for is #3, behind Dean and Gephardt, but he has to worry about Clark in South Carolina, which stretches his resources thin (and Clark has money to spare, given that he isn't even trying for Iowa).
But that said, his issues-oriented approach is exactly the kind of thing we should be celebrating. Edwards has consistently been a serious thinker, and the other campaigns would be well-advised to borrow liberally (pun intended) from his position papers. And while Edwards has taken his shots at Dean, I don't think anyone would argue he's been as damaging to the eventual Democratic nominee in the way that Lieberman or Kerry have. Running an issues-based campaign is smart and represents a great example of a high standard.
Unfortunately, the time for issues is gone, until after New Hampshire.
Edwards, with his good looks and centrist views, was once the darling of many Democrats and big donors. Despite outspending his rivals early on, he remains far behind the competition in Iowa and New Hampshire and is financially constrained as 2004 begins. He is hoping to defy history and conventional wisdom by making his break in South Carolina, the top prize for many of the candidates in the Feb. 3 vote. To make that happen, a top adviser said, Edwards must crack the top three in Iowa or New Hampshire.
Edwards plans to stick to the optimistic, policy-oriented tone that he says is the best way to defeat President Bush but which has failed to excite many grass-roots activists. "There is not a big market for his ideas right now," said Donna L. Brazile, Gore's 2000 campaign manager. The North Carolina senator will fly back and forth between Iowa and New Hampshire throughout the month, and Edwards's aides believe that he, like Clark, could benefit from the attacks others are making against Dean. Edwards is the "optimistic alternative to Dean," said Jennifer Palmeiri, his spokeswoman.
Edwards is doomed - even if he places in the top three in Iowa, he won't crack that threshold in New Hampshire, where it's almost assuredly going to be a Dean win and a race between Kerry and Clark for slot 2 and 3. In Iowa, the best he can hope for is #3, behind Dean and Gephardt, but he has to worry about Clark in South Carolina, which stretches his resources thin (and Clark has money to spare, given that he isn't even trying for Iowa).
But that said, his issues-oriented approach is exactly the kind of thing we should be celebrating. Edwards has consistently been a serious thinker, and the other campaigns would be well-advised to borrow liberally (pun intended) from his position papers. And while Edwards has taken his shots at Dean, I don't think anyone would argue he's been as damaging to the eventual Democratic nominee in the way that Lieberman or Kerry have. Running an issues-based campaign is smart and represents a great example of a high standard.
Unfortunately, the time for issues is gone, until after New Hampshire.
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