Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Fight for John Edwards' Endorsement

Not that long ago in the 9^th Ward of New Orleans was when former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina decided to drop out of the race for president. I was an Edwards supporter and was a very proud Edwards supporter. As a matter a fact, I probably was the biggest Edwards supporter in all of Pennsylvania. I moaned and groaned for many days after he dropped out and I strongly attacked Obama and Clinton as well as the Republicans as I usually did every day. I even threatened to support Nader and I even created a short lasting group on My Space called "Unity," which failed miserably. The idea of "Unity" was to unite the Edwards, Kucinich, Gravel, and Ron Paul supporters to all come together and form one alliance to take down both the Democratic and Republican Parties. All was going well except for one major detail, the Edwards faithful were actually being partisan Democrats instead of real caring people, which I thought they all were.

Therefore, I quit my unity pledge and did get behind a candidate after I did some soul searching and I did need a lot of that too. Finally, I did pick a candidate that I support now. I wish not to endorse that candidate since this is more of a look at the impact Edwards will get from a journalistic point of view article, but I have overcame my grief and sorrow of him dropping out that I had for days to come. But I still do have my hopes up as this article hints and as I just hinted a sentence ago. I have some bit of hope because of the fact that John Edwards has still a very large impact on the race for president on the Democratic side.

There are many ways in which Edwards does make a difference in this race. For instance, John Edwards is important both directly and even indirectly. I mean, you heard immediately after Edwards dropped out on the cable news stations of where people like me were going to go. They looked at the fact that the faithful of Edwards tended to be more white rural Democratic voters that he had tapped into throughout the race for president, which is why he finished 2^nd place in Iowa. Therefore in order to please the Edwards faithful, both the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign have worked very, and I mean very hard to capture the support of the Edwards faithful.

For example, the debate that was held in Hollywood back in January had both Clinton and Obama constantly mentioning John Edwards' name. In both of the opening statements that Clinton and Obama had, they mentioned John Edwards and praised John Edwards constantly. Clinton and Obama also drew similarities to John Edwards in order to praise the Edwards faithful such as myself. For example, in the debate back on January 26^th, Senator Clinton said how she and Edwards were the ones who supported universal health care and she did say his name right on the TV hoping to capture the Edwards voters. Then Obama used Edwards by saying how they both didn't take any money from lobbyists and how they both wanted change and to fight poverty, which was Edwards' main issue in his campaign. So the fact that both of them were using John Edwards' name is a sign that they both wanted the Edwards voters who still did make up 10-15%, which means a lot. I mean if you think about it, that 10-15% could capture a couple of extra delegates for the campaigns and in this very close race, every delegate counts and voters transform into delegates. But if you believe anything Dick Morris says, the Edwards faithful would neither vote for Hillary or Obama because "don't like a woman or black getting elected." Dick Morris however has been shown to be an idiot because the Edwards faithful has been breaking and has been breaking more heavily for Obama than Clinton but there have been some Edwards faithful that have broke for Clinton too, which means Morris is wrong in his analysis.

It has been no secret that the Obama and Clinton campaigns have gone after the supporters since the faithful did make up that 10-15% I talked about. However, the campaigns also want another huge prize besides the voters and that is the actual endorsement of John Edwards. In an interview John Edwards did the day he dropped out of the race with Susanne Malveau of CNN, Edwards really did sound up in the air. It seemed like Edwards had not made up his mind about who he would endorse and both campaigns want him to give an endorsement in hope that they could sway some of those Edwards faithful their way. Even though people are deciding between the two, there are a good chunk of people from the Edwards faithful who are disenchanted with both of them and are still grieving because of him dropping out. But if Edwards were to endorse either of them, then we could see some of those voters become more enchanted and connected with the person Edwards endorses, which is what they want because in the end in a close race, one thing and one thing only matters and that is the delegates.

That brings me directly to my third reason both are fighting for the Edwards faithful and Edwards himself. It is because of the delegates. Now I originally thought that Edwards did have 21 delegates and he did when he was in the race. But since has dropped out of the race, he does lose those delegates. However, they have become wide open and probably still are loyal to Edwards in the sense that they remain unpledged delegates. So in other words, Edwards has no delegates anymore but they are still unpledged, which means if Edwards were to make an endorsement, they might all pledge themselves to the candidate he endorsed. That is why his endorsement will mean as much as it does because this race is separated with less than 100 delegates. So this thing will go on a while and both know, every delegate count. Therefore, they want Edwards' endorsement and they want it bad as well as his faithful.

But because of all three of these reasons, even though John Edwards is out of the race doesn't mean he is not important. John Edwards actually is very important to this race and that is why I wonder if he will make that endorsement or if he is going to continue to remain silent through this process. I mean, it does make you wonder, especially since both campaigns are working hard for that Edwards vote both through the faithful and through Edwards himself. Both want him and his former supporters to be a part of their campaign. I have a My Space profile and I have friends who are Obama supporters who are both trying very hard to get the Edwards crowd. When I announced my support, an Obama supporter in Lancaster promoted me to the Obama faithful. Also, they have many bulletins running trying to get the Edwards supporters to go their way and as I have noticed; they for the most part went the Obama way. I know a couple who went for Clinton but the majority of the Edwards faithful has become the Obama faithful and it is noticeable just because I have Edwards supporters who are my friends on My Space. That means that Dick Morris and his crazy assessment, which I will link for this article is downright preposterous. After all, if the Edwards faithful is voting for Obama and Clinton, then why would they be the voters who wouldn't want a woman or black as president? Wouldn't they just not vote then or even vote for McCain?

But anyways, not to get sidetracked by that moron, the Edwards faithful and Edwards himself despite what Dick Morris says will be very important. I have analyzed both candidates and you see that from both of them. Hillary Clinton to this day continues to use John Edwards to try to rack up some support among the faithful and she has captured some of them to be quite honest. Both of the candidates have issues where they agree with John Edwards on, which is why the Edwards voters and Edwards himself are torn and are up for grabs in each contest and is why the campaigns and their supporters are fighting so hard for them. It will be interesting to me of who Edwards will endorse if he will at all and who the supporters will break to. I mean some questions burning in my mind include will Edwards endorse? Who does Edwards favor between the two candidates as of now? Who will the faithful continue to break for? Will the delegates he had go to either campaign and make a difference? I mean all of these questions are burning in my mind since Edwards dropped out and it will be interesting to see which way this will go with Edwards out. But just because Edwards is out, doesn't mean he is out if you know what I mean. Edwards does mean something still to this campaign and both Clinton and Obama know it, respect it, and want it.

Sources:
http://enclave-nashville.blogspot.com/2008/01/report-clinton-obama-covet-edwards.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwKMiBYErOs
bryanscrafford.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/clint