He just doesn’t have the money. He decided to take public financing and that will hobble him versus the Republican machine if he’s the nominee.
In Iowa, Edwards had a major TV presence only with the assistance of third-party ads paid for by unions and by a group fronted by his ex-campaign manager. The Obama and Clinton people see this lack of cash as a key vulnerability.
If Edwards is to survive beyond the first several states, no matter how he places in Iowa on Thursday, his campaign will rely heavily on its supporters from organized labor.
Unions representing more than 3 million members have endorsed Edwards, and labor volunteers have been crucial to his get-out-the-vote efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire.
His aides sought to underscore that union strength, saying it was more useful than the large numbers of offices or staffers.
"The union will do it" is not a statement of strength. It is weakness. You can be on the right side of every issue, if you haven’t got the cash it’s almost impossible to dance.
Wow, exactly the opposite of the criticism you had about Romney.
Not at all. I think candidates ought to have support via donors, not buying it with their personal fortunes (something Sen. Edwards has the money to do but wisely isn’t).
Oliver, Sen. Edwards has not ruled out opting out of public financing for the general election. He doesn’t have to make that decision yet. Note that Obama has already pledged to go the public financing route in the general if the GOP candidate makes the same promise — as McCain did.
There are lots of reasons to be for or against Edwards. This isn’t one of them. He’s handicapped himself in the primary, but has way more cash than Huckabee who’s doing alright being outspent 25 to one on the other side.
This only works if you are die-hard against Hillary and have to choose between Obama and Edwards and don’t think John can go the distance against her in the Super-Duper Tuesday states (or a die-hard against Obama and are choosing between John and Hillary).
Dude, if it’s all about the Benjamins and fighting the GOP, you’re guilty of premature rejectulation.
Mark, I believe that Sen. Edwards has said that he is going to opt for public financing in the general election. I don’t know if there’s been some retraction of that stance since then.
Edwards isn’t just going to have a problem competing in the general, he’ll have a problem in the remaining states, if he makes it out of Iowa alive.
If Edwards can win Iowa it will be a new game and the money is not going to help whoever finishes in third place there.
Sen. Edwards has not ruled out opting out of public financing for the general election. He doesn’t have to make that decision yet.
He should have made that decision months ago. It’s ridiculous to opt-in to the public financing system anymore. Gore proved how bad an idea that was, and the only reason John Kerry was as competitive as he was was because he opted out. Clinton has opted out, as has Obama. That tells me they’re serious and not wishing for a pie in the sky occurrence (the GOP opting in) to happen.
I think Edwards could say, ‘My decision to opt into public financing was due to principles. I believe in election reform. However, my Republican opponent would rather buy the election and I can’t be expected to win with such a handicap.’
…And by the same logic, Obama is a fool for saying he’ll play by the public money rules if his opponent does, instead of going for the jugular — no hint at Obama’s take on the principle underlying the decision save empty rhetoric.