John Edwards' indelible mark

Source: The Guardian

.......

At this point he won't be missed as much, but if he hadn't been in the race we would have missed him a great deal. Indeed, despite his consistently lagging polling and fundraising numbers, Edwards has arguably been the decisive policy influence inside the Democratic party.

It's widely noted that there's no enormous policy gap between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Less widely noted is that it didn't always have to be that way. Both Clinton and Obama are running on domestic platforms that are much, much, much more ambitious than anything Al Gore or John Kerry put on the table. And not because Kerry was a notably right-wing Democrat or Clinton a from-the-left insurgent. Rather, the centre of gravity within the party shifted several notches left between the last cycle and this one. In part, that was a response to shifting dynamics in the real world. But to a surprising extent, it was simply a response to John Edwards.

(snip)

Read more: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/matthew_yglesias/2008/01/john_edwardss_indelible_mark.html

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John will always be the "elephant in the (Democratic) living room", should one of the other two win the Presidency. But for once, it will be in a good sense.

Edwards made the democratic party better.
He transformed the party even though he didn't win.
The others were just changing the outerwear

...the others were changing their underware.

And we'll be ready by then, the rest of the country that is. :)

incumbent Democrat? Or is it your feeling that this election will go to McCain?

stolen. The Republicans are already busily at work caging. They have stolen two-- would it be that be that big a surprise if they stole the third?

I have learned not to hope, and have turned from an idealist into a cynic.

:hi: