Beating the Odds

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071002_boyarsky_mccain_edwards/

Beating the Odds
Posted on Oct 2, 2007
By Bill Boyarsky

Maybe I’m crazy, but I’d bet on John McCain to win the Republican presidential nomination. And the Democrat with the best chance to beat him is John Edwards.

In a way, contemplating the lineup of front-running candidates is a depressing exercise. From what they’ve said, no matter who wins, U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for a long time after the election. A fine mess you’ve gotten us into, President Bush.

Both McCain and Edwards have been pretty well written off by mainstream pundits. Edwards gets lost amid the stories about the powerful fundraisers, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Recently, however, some of the Clinton fans in the media appear to be suffering from buyer’s remorse and are taking a more critical look at her.

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His heritage is a help. Three of the Democrats’ post World War II presidents were southerners, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Edwards is a progressive southerner who could at least splinter the Republican hold on the South.

He was first of the Democrats to come out with a health insurance plan and the proposals of the other candidates are pretty much like his. He’s a populist in a country worried about health care, job security and economic stagnation. The decision of John and Elizabeth Edwards to keep campaigning after her cancer recurred probably resonates with the millions of Americans who are in the same boat because of terrible illness or injury.

Some may have thought John Edwards should have retreated with his wife to a life of care and convalescence. I don’t think so. Edwards showed guts, and that’s pretty good quality in a candidate.