Wednesday, January 30, 2008

(heart) breaking news

The AP is reporting:

Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies but never diverted his campaign, The Associated Press has learned

The two-time White House candidate notified a close circle of senior advisers that he planned to make the announcement at a 1 p.m. EST event in New Orleans that had been billed as a speech on poverty, according to two of his advisers. The decision came after Edwards lost the four states to hold nominating contests so far to rivals who stole the spotlight from the beginning — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

The former North Carolina senator will not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination, said one adviser, who spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.


(Update: The Washington Post has reported the same.)

Just once—once—I would like to have my first choice still in the race by the time the primaries made it to my state.


The fact that one of the most progressive Democrats, and, according to previous polls, the Dem with the best shot in the general election versus any of the Republican frontrunners, has to bow out before any of the large states have voted, before any of the major urban areas have weighed in (I am not counting MI and FL since they were not sanctioned primaries), and before any state with a diversified economy could be heard from says that this system is really, really broken.

I say that with my heart. . . and my head.


Update 2: From the Department of Zero Class

Hillary Clinton went on air in Seattle at just after 7am PST (10am EST) and spoke of how Edwards had called her to say that he was getting out of the race. Clinton then made a blatant play for Edwards voters. This was well before John Edwards’s scheduled 1pm EST event where he is to make an official announcement.

It’s another example of HRC’s ambition drowning out any sincere desire she might have to embrace any of JRE’s issues. What a political tin ear. Ick.

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