Embattled Bloggers Resign from John Edwards Campaign

After a weeks-long controversy over statements made on their respective blogs, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan have resigned from the John Edwards campaign. Amanda Marcotte resigned on the 12 February 2007, while Melissa McEwan resigned the next day on 13 February 2007.

Both Marcotte and McEwan are well-known for their blogs, especially Marcotte whose blog Pandagon is one of the larger blogs in the liberal blogosphere. The two were hired by the John Edwards For President campaign to work on the official John Edwards blog. Marcotte was to be Blogmaster while McEwan was hired on as a technical advisor.

Within days of their hiring, Edwards came under fire for hiring the two bloggers. Rightwing bloggers such as Michelle Malkin began citing comments made by Marcotte and McEwan which denigrated Christianity. Michelle Malkin and the blog Hot Air collaborated to make videos appearing on YouTube highlighting some of Marcotte's more vulgar and inflammatory comments.

William Donohue, President of the Catholic League highlighted the issue even further, making specific references to anti-Catholic and anti-Christian comments made on Marcotte's blog Pandagon as well as McEwan's blog Shakespeare's Sister. Donohue called upon Edwards to fire the two staffers.

Several web sites, in fact, reported that Marcotte and McEwan had in fact been fired. This drew ire from many liberal blogs who claimed that John Edwards was bending to will of the conservative right in firing the two bloggers. It was later revealed that Edwards had not fired the bloggers, but made an official statement condemning their previous statements and saying they would not make any such statements on the John Edwards blog.

The story reached critical mass when it was picked up by Bill O'Reilly of the O'Reilly Factor. The O'Reilly Factor is the highest rated show in cable news with millions of viewers. As the show was on the air talking about the situation on the John Edwards campaign staff, Amanda Marcotte announced her resignation. The next day, 13 February 2007, Melissa McEwan also resigned.

How the controversy will effect the John Edwards 2008 Presidential bid is unknown. Many Christians are angered and offended by Edwards' hiring and keeping of these two bloggers. However many on the left have stood by Edwards and claimed that his keeping of Marcotte and McEwan was a sign of good faith. Now that they have resigned this might tarnish liberal views of Edwards while doing little to fan the flames of anger directed toward his campaign.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remain the front-runners in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination, although some unofficial online polls have shown John Edwards with a stronger lead.