John Edwards FOR THE WIN!
YES! OMG, YES! John Edwards is endorsing Barack Obama! *Takes a solid 5 minute break to squee like a child on Christmas morning*
Over AIM 10 minutes ago:
ElysaMNFF: YES!
Laura: YES
Laura: JOHN EDWARDS IS THE MAN
ElysaMNFF: 4 SRS
ElysaMNFF: OMG
ElysaMNFF: PWN
Laura: I love how
Laura: all you had to say was
Laura: “YES!”
Laura: And I knew automatically what you were talking about.
This is huge news, and let me explain why:
i. First of all, Edwards’ endorsement– no matter to whom it went– was/is hugely significant. Edwards has a massive following of extremely loyal populist/working class voters. This has been evidenced by the fact that, despite that Edwards dropped out of the race ages ago, he continues to garner votes in the primaries. His following is so loyal that they vote for him even when he is no longer viable, or even on the ticket. Translation: Edwards holds the hearts of millions of important Democratic voters who have refused to vote for either Clinton or Obama up to this point. Now, that’s set to change. By endorsing Obama, Edwards is releasing his constituents to vote for Obama, is in fact encouraging them to support Obama, and with such an intensely devout following this is essentially guaranteeing that they will. And mark my words. They will.
ii. It is also about the type of voters they are. Edwards, like Clinton, runs on an extremely populist message. He focuses on poverty, healthcare, welfare, et al. Therefore, his target crowd are middle/working class, blue collar Americans– the same target audience as Hillary Clinton, and the one crowd that Obama has had enormous trouble winning over, which is essentially why he lost West Virginia last night by such a massive margin: 90% of West Virginia consists of the middle/lower working class. So Edwards’ endorsement is going to be huge in closing that gap for Obama. It’s going to bring those types of voters over into Obama’s camp, giving him much more support in practically the only real electorate weakness he had (past tense now!). This is terrible news for Hillary Clinton, for the obvious reasons, but also because Edwards’ voice has so much credibility among Clinton’s strongest supporters that by supporting Obama, Edwards will not only bring him more support, but will potentially divert support from Clinton by provoking blue collar voters to rethink their choice of candidate.
iii. Thirdly, this comes at the perfect time for Obama. He just suffered a crushing defeat in West Virginia last night, so Edwards’ timing is choice and strategic. Both the media’s and the nation’s attention is going to be diverted from Obama’s loss and refocused on Edwards’ endorsement. In a political system that (unfortunately, but nonetheless) relies heavily on momentum and media/mass perception, the timing truly could not have been better. The West Virginia defeat story will be old hat within a matter of 24 hours as this Edwards story dilutes the news cycle. It reinforces Obama’s stance as the front-runner, reinstates a little lost certainty in his ability to pick up working class support, and reaffirms his campaign as being the stronger, more credible and able campaign to face McCain in the November General Elections.
iv. Lastly, when an ex-candidate formally endorses another candidate, he/she is also formally releasing their delegates. Meaning, the 19 Superdelegates that Edwards had won in the early primaries are now free to support someone else. And who do you think they’ll support if the candidate they were formally supporting has endorsed Obama? One guess.
Not to mention, of course, that Clinton worked endlessly to garner Edwards’ endorsement, so his decision to support her rival is more than a little embarrassing. No matter how you slice it, it’s utterly fantastic news for the Obama camp, meaning it’s utterly fantastic news for me and Laura. Let it be known that Wednesday, May 14, is officially some manner of National Holiday.
I’m certain I’ll have more on this later (such as what this could mean for a possible Obama/Edwards ticket), but in my unhindered excitement the threads of coherent thought are slipping speedily away.
/Elysa
commentspage said,
May 14, 2008 at 10:33 pm
another loser endorses hussein obama. so what? men are just afraid from a strong woman. that’s all folks
commentspage said,
May 14, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I’m democrat but will NEVER EVER vote for Obama, because:
1. Obama has never done any job from starting to the end
2. He is a walkie-talkie
3. He has no political ideas at all
4. He was rised by Chicago mafia politicians
5. His wife Michelle takes bribes
6. His portfolio is thinner than a sheet
7. He ruined the party with all those betrayers like Richardson, Pelosi, Kennedy ans so on
So if Clinton is not chosen or the results are falsified (as Dean & Co try hard) then I vote for Nader or write-in Clinton
Therese said,
May 14, 2008 at 11:05 pm
YES!! REJOICE!!
lizbeth said,
May 14, 2008 at 11:07 pm
NO Comment?!!
Well, anyway: YAY!!! (since you guys already covered the yeses)
i am SO behind on post, but oh well. this one didn’t cause me to rant.
mandy said,
May 14, 2008 at 11:39 pm
YES!
I’m pretty psyched about this news, to say the least. I’m from West Virginia and was very sad to see the way things turned out yesterday, but at the same time I wasn’t the least bit surprised.
Thanks for doing this blog, keep up the good work!
PS: Mugglecast is great as well : ]
Kevin said,
May 15, 2008 at 1:15 am
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Just cause most exclamatory noises were done.
Paul said,
May 15, 2008 at 2:11 am
The Dems need to choose a bloody candidate. Totally shooting themselves in the foot, like always.
Tom_F said,
May 15, 2008 at 5:59 am
lol when i first saw the title of the blog i thought you meant John Edwards that crackpot psychic guy…*yawn*
Jason said,
May 15, 2008 at 6:21 am
HELL YAH JOHN EDWARDS IS THE MAN!
Saul said,
May 15, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I was at the Van Andel last night while Obama and Edwards were speaking. When Obama announced that Edward is endorsing him, I literally squealed with joy. It was extremely exciting. Edward was definitely my top choice for president while he was running. Since he’s not running anymore, Obama is the next best thing, and I have to say that I really enjoy him. =] I’m definitely going to vote for him in my mind since I really can’t vote because I’m only 15. I’m going to nudge my Mum to vote for him, though.
Amira said,
May 16, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I was with my friends when i heard about this….
an boy, did i let out a shriek of joy!!!
Zara said,
May 16, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Saul: me too! I’m actually 15 as well and I was all for Edwards until he dropped out, but like you I think that Obama is the next best thing. I have an extremely conservative Am. Govt. teacher, and that Clinton would make an awful president is pretty much the only thing we agree on.
OBAMA for PRESIDENT!
Tom_F: What the fuck….?
John said,
May 17, 2008 at 12:00 am
OMG yes i was soo happy to see the news about Edwards! I dunno i started jumping around the room and eveyone though i was crazy LOL. But yes i agree with you on the whole mass/media oriented politics we have here and his timing was perfect. Next week will be Oregon and Kentucky’s change to vote and i couldn’t be more happy!! All projections indicate he will gt Oregon and im hoping that the Edward endorsement will give him more edge to get Kentucky as well!
george robbins said,
May 17, 2008 at 1:19 am
i was soooooo excited too! although i was mostly excited because hillary was doing EVERYTHING she could to get edwards to come over to the dark side and then… well obviously he didnt. this was almost as exciting as richardson’s endorsement, but not quite considering the clintons and bill richardson had a personal friendship, making his endorsement of obama paticularly detrimental politically and personally. anyways im a little behind on posts because MY SCHOOL BLOCKED POLITICAL BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!11!!1!!!!!1 (the 1’s were added purposely for dramtic affect) WTF IM SOOOO MAD. ugh suburban white public high schools are sooooo orwellian. =’ (
Morganne said,
May 18, 2008 at 5:25 am
Not only is Edwards awesome, but we need MORE SEXY POLITICIANS!
