Edwards has won exactly 2 elections in his life.

And it's not really 2. He won 1 to get to the senate. He also won SC in 2004. Edwards record thus far: 2-51

Seriously?

This post is meaningless.

Ever wonder why Boeing or the big banks didn't run a candidate against :tinfoilhat:bama instead of having a nutjob like Keyes in the election? Hell with the resources of the Republican party they could have run somebody better.

"If a turtle is on top a fence post, it didn't get there by accident."

You give me hope. Thank you.

Their plan for many recent years has been to beg the very popular former Governor Jim Edgar, a moderate Republican, to run for every major open office.

He never does.

The guy the GOP ending up nominating, Jack Ryan, was forced to back out of the race because of some sex scandal.

After that there was some more begging to Jim Edgar, the state GOP in all seriousness considered people like Mike Ditka and all sorts of other non-sense. It was almost as bad as the California recall in 2003.

They finally settled on Alan Keyes for some reason, and the rest is history.

The moral of the story is however that the Illinois Republican Party is dysfunctional, and that Keyes fiasco is pretty much their standard operating procedure.

Believe me, there WAS a reason. There is ALWAYS a reason.

Trying to teach the more conservative reformers (not the good type) a lesson that they are unable to win elections in the state.

It wasn't about making life easy for Obama, they were just giving into their suicidal tendencies.

if that is a win..hell i could have won that race....blindfolded.

fly

the Illinois Senate as well? The OP is pathetic. So are the attempts to tear down Obama and insinuate he's some stealth repuke plant.

And I doubt you could have won that race, even with millions of bucks. Sorry.

Edwards beat a 3 term incumbant in a red state.He beat the Jesse helms machine.Obam beat Alan Keyes who was " bused" in.He was a"joke". He was no opposition at all.Or maybe you think Keyes is a "real " presidential candidate too?

conservative. Nothing wrong with that. As you said, he beat the Helms machine. Obama had a cakewalk. That's true. Comparing him to Alan Keyes? Shameful and disgusting. I would expect nothing more from you. Pathetic.

Keyes and basically "Keyes" was a nonentity. I said "Keyes" was a joke. And Keyes is running for President again, so I asked if you thought Keyes was a "real" presidential candidate because he wasn't a"real" Senate candidate. It was sarcasm. I compared Obama to no one.Sheesh.

Sure you did. It's right there. Why blatantly misrepresent, when it's ritht there in black and white?

"Obam beat Alan Keyes who was " bused" in.He was a"joke". He was no opposition at all.Or maybe you think Keyes is a "real " presidential candidate too?"

candidate.Do you? Not Obama. Obama is bonafide. Keyes.

Primaries. As a bluer than blue state, as you put it, Illinois has some real cut-throat primaries. Our dems eat their own better than anyone you've ever seen.

He defeated an incumbent for his state senate seat. Lost to Bobby Rush in a congressional race, and ran against 6 other candidates in his senate primary.

I'm a bit removed from IL politics, but I've fought a battle or two there. There is no opposition party, just Dem on Dem violence. The Democratic Machine, 40 years of Daley, the Council Wars, Beirut by the Lake. We know everything about political fratricide.

They couldn't find a republican that wanted to go up against Obama, because it was suicide. The only one that wanted a shot was Oberweis, and he had already embarrassed the IL GOP enough with his anti-immigration commercials during the primary, the state party knew he was a joke. The state party decided if anyone should come in to face Obama, it should be someone expendable. Thus, they called Keyes.

In fact he was Seven-of-Nine's ex husband. He had to resign from the race because he was involved in some real kinky stuff that didn't sit well with the holier-than-thou types in the GOP. By this time, Obama was already well into the race, and they couldn't find a "black Republican" in their own state to run against him, so they had to import one.

I used to live in Illinois and was still going there a lot while the story was panning out. I just thought the way you phrased it was hilarious.

So he dropped out. No one in the IL GOP wanted to take on Obama. Only Oberweis (who lost to Ryan in the primary) wanted in. But he was running these offensive anti-immigration ads during the primary, so the IL GOP passed on him. There where other qualified candidates from the primary (it was an open seat with 7 people running on each side), but none wished to take on Obama. As someone else mentioned, there was an effort to draft Edgar that failed. There was also buzz about drafting State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, but she was too smart for that. So the IL GOP basically found settled on Keyes, better to sacrifice a carpetbagger than a someone the party was developing.

PS - Oberweis is currently running for Denny Hastert's seat.

is Edwards hitching his anvil to your star.

I'm no Obama supporter.

Polls show he shares support with Hillary. That doesn't hold up as much on the web. I think that everyone that's voting for Hillary has already decided that.

he will back Obama at some point.

I was saying the same sort of thing to someone earlier today. They told me that his supporters might not go to Hillary as easily since he attacked her. I don't know about that. He attacked her more than the other way around.

at this point. At least Hillary knows what kind of people are on the other side of the fence. She's been fending off their attacks for years. Obama greatly underestimates their viciousness. IMO.

always thought you were.

Just like the guy that runs to a fight as it ends and says.... Well you know what he says better than me...

I wonder if your candidate has as much substance as your post.

I just realized it and wanted to share.

For all practical purposes, he had NO opposition. Edwrds took down the Helms machine and beat a 3 term incumbant Lance Faircloth.There is no comparison.And he did it as a Dem in a red state.Obama ran virtually without an opponent in one of the bluest states.

John Edwards (D) - 1,029,237 (51.15%)

Lauch Faircloth (R) (inc.) - 945,943 (47.01%)

Barbara Howe (Lib.) - 36,963 (1.84%)

Faircloth was a very aggressive republicon. A lot of the newer DUers may not know much about him, but for John to win over him says a lot about John and his willingness to FIGHT.

I'm not really sure what your point is here. Besides, your facts are wrong. Edwards also won the North Carolina presidential primary in 2004, and won their Senate primary race in order to run as their Democratic candidate for the Senate in the first place. I'd think that if you really cared so much about whatever profound point you assume you're making you'd at least get your facts straight first.

North Carolina United States Senate election, 1998 (Democratic primary)<55>

John Edwards - 277,468 (51.38%)

David G. Martin - 149,049 (27.60%)

Ella Butler Scarborough - 55,486 (10.28%)

Bob Ayers - 22,477 (4.16%)

Mike Robinson - 20,178 (3.74%)

James Everette Carmack - 8,200 (1.52%)

Gene Gay - 7,173 (1.33%)

And would you look at those results. 51.38%

He also won 51% of the general election against Faircloth an incumbent republicon .

Not too shabby, if you ask me.

I usually don't rip other candidates but who have Clinton and Obama beaten?

Hillary Clinton has only won 2 elections and that was against two nobodies named Rick Lazio and John Spencer. Also had JFK Jr. not died in the summer of 1999 she probably would have had to face him in the primary.

Barack Obama was a state senator but that was in a heavily Democratic district. Then he beat Alan Keyes in the 2004 Senate race.

Both Clinton and Obama won in heavily Blue states in Presidential election years when voter turnout is usually higher. Gore won New York in 2000 and Kerry won Illinois in 2004. While Edwards won in a heavily Red state, against an incumbant senator, against the dirty Jesse Helms machine, in an midterm election year, in a year (1998) when Democratic President Bill Clinton's sex scandal was the headline of the year.

I think John Edwards had a tougher mountain to climb.

He beat the Helms machine and a tough incumbent to win the Senate. In a red state. That speaks volumes.

And he went through the Rove machine in '04. While he didn't win, he's been picked apart time and time again and the only attacks they could muster was to ridicule trial lawyers and make fun of his hair.

Obama's original opponent in '04 dropped due to a rather seedy sex scandal and his replacement was a total buffoon with no chance of winning (Keyes). The GOP basically gave up on Illinois, a very blue state. And in no way being racist (far from my intent), it's not hard to win a state senate seat when you're a charasmatic black Democrat looking to represent the south side of Chicago.

Clinton didn't face much credible opposition in her two Senate runs in New York. She had the name recognition and money, and New York leans heavily Democratic.

is worth a few bonus points ?

Thanks Irish for the well stated and thought out rebuttle.

It's hard to understand why so many here start these kinds of threads about him.