AP says Edwards out -- Updated

by shamanic

According to AP, John Edwards will drop out of the race today. For all the howling on the right about the "hypocrisy" of a wealthy person advocating for the poor, he's been a strong and dedicated voice for those who usually go without one. And really, if the better off don't advocate for the poor, who will?

Edwards ran a good campaign that couldn't get oxygen against this year's roster of rock stars. He's a good man who's added an important dimension to the race so far, and I hope his message continues to resonate.

Update by Libby: I see Sha broke the news, so I posted on this at my place but I'd quote myself here on this point.

It's difficult to figure why Edwards campaign never took off with progressives. He was voicing our concerns and willing to buck the establishment to promote them. Certainly his failure to acheive any crossover momentum was partly driven the hateful media vendetta against him but his failure to energize 'the left,' including myself, always surprised me.

I never could quite put my finger on why I didn't see a champion for our cause in him. In retrospect, I have to think that in some part, it all went wrong when he allowed himself to be browbeaten by the right wing rage machine into firing Amanda and Melissa. I was really encouraged when he hired them and extremely disappointed when he let them go. It made it difficult to believe he could lead us, when he caved so quickly to the fringers. I think subconsciouly, I never quite got over it. I have a feeling, I'm not the only one.

Update by shamanic:

I don't know Libby. I gave him some money early on, but I really think at the end of the day, Clinton and Obama generated so much excitement that he just couldn't get traction. If I were voting strictly on policy ideas, Kucinich would be my candidate, and I think the same is true for an awful lot of progressives. But we're taking into account a whole lot of things beyond policy. One of those for me is the opportunity to elect a historic first in this campaign.

The media fell victim to the same rock star fetish, by the way, which made the problem worse for Edwards. With limited column inches in print sources, writers preferred to write and editors preferred to run with stories about Clinton and/or Obama.