I admit, I don't understand Edwards' strategy

Of the top three I would vote for Edwards if I had to vote today but I see only one way for him to win. He has to take first in New Hampshire. The way for him that I thought was possible was first in Iowa with Obama third. That clearly didn't happen. Now he needs to win New Hampshire with Hillary third so he can have his two person race. Honestly, I don't think he can win that either but he surely can't win a two way race against Obama if Obama has beaten him in both New Hampshire and Iowa. Edwards needs to break his current lock out from minority voters. I don't see very many of Clinton's minority voters breaking to Edwards with Obama as a sucessful alternative.

He should be attacking either both Clinton and Obama or just Obama. He needs a two person race against Clinton to have his best shot but to have any shot he needs to have a win. I wish him the best, but I really don't think he is doing the best thing to win.

He is a distant 3rd everywhere else.
IMO, his best chance is to bump off the candidate with the downward momentum (Hillary) and try to make it a 2 person race. His only chance to do this is in NH. If he doesn't beat Clinton there, I don't see how he could possible win the nomination.

A two person race between Obama and Edwards with a southern dominated super Tuesday seems like a sure loser for Edwards.

And he needs to make this a two person race asap. He has given himself no safety net anywhere.

...Edwards believes his only chance is for this to become a two-person race. And looking at the the relative strengths of the two other candidates, he believes he has a better shot of taking out Clinton than Obama.

Incidentally, it also plays into Edwards' message of "change" to align himself with Obama and attack Hillary.

Edwards. We're a LONGGGGG way from done yet. 48 states left to go. Let's let them run the race. If it can come down to Obama v Edwards, it will be a wonderful race indeed, and change WILL come without a doubt !

It is the end game that I don't see. He is mired in the single digits, even here in NC, among African American voters. He can't win any southern state unless that changes.

He knows his candidacy is now a long-shot. Before he starts worrying about the endgame, he has to somehow turn it into a two-person race, and hope the "orphaned" supporters from the other candidate break his way. He'll worry about the next step if/when that happens.

I think when you are a long shot you need to throw the hail Mary.

him win, but even NH doesn't give O the nomination. If you are for JE, vote for JE wherever you fall in the primary schedule. Why change your vote because of two or three states. If JE is behind after half the primaries have occurred, then .....

Vote for whomever YOU want.

so I may literally have only one candidate for whom to vote.

Him vs Barack. I guess what he wants is both to be on stage together and people make their choice.

this is a guy who HATES to lose. He has studied the primaries probably backward and forward. He was always SUPER prepared for his cases. He is a real worker and can figure out his opponent. You don't go to court and win that many cases and don't do your homework.

zalinda

He is playing politics.

It was clear immediately after his second place finish in Iowa. He made a subtle jab at Clinton basically saying that Iowa was looking for change. And of course, he made his comments during the debate about the status quo holding back forces of change.

Edwards isn't stupid and he knows his chances of winning the nomination are slim, but I get the impression he doesn't particularly want Clinton to win the nomination. My guess is the Clinton agents tried to bully him and every other candidate earlier on into letting Clinton run off with the nomination. I say this because of the bitterness exuded by McAullife (it was in a TNR blog thing), basically whining about Richardson getting appointed twice by Clinton, but still having the audacity to run and throw second choice support to Obama.

Clinton had all the advantages going into Iowa, but relied on old school cronies to get her across. It was a bad idea and I think her arrogance earlier is coming back to bite her.

His strategy is extremely risky. In fact, I think Edwards is done. I honestly believe Edwards needed to win Iowa, or place a close second and he did neither. IF he somehow stuns people in NH and wins there, then this race clearly changes and maybe even a strong 2nd will help him, but I'm not sure that's even possible now.

If Edwards comes in 3rd in NH, it becomes a two-person race between Obama and Clinton, much like it became a two-person race between Kerry and Edwards in '04.