The Edwards Announcement

When I first read that John Edwards was going to continue his quest for the presidency (after a lackluster career in the Senate for only one term and a questionable career as a trial lawyer) I was a bit annoyed. But as I thought about it, this should be between Mr. Edwards and his wife.

I believe his run for the White House is a lot like what I consider his Senate career was like - a lot of talk and not much substantive success - but it is his choice whether to go forward and stranger things have happened (take Jimmy Carter, our surrealist president, for example). I am still convinced that the demo primary is between Obama and Hillary and that those two will crowd out any others. But if Hillary continues to stumble, there may be room for another candidate. There is no guarantee that anyone would choose Edwards as a running mate. He was not especially adept in his last race for VP. It is unclear whether he would bring any gravitas to the role or whether he could even carry his own state. But none of that matters - hope springs eternal in a politician's breast.

In my own case, were my wife to have a second (she has not had the first) bout with cancer, I think I would stop. But as some have pointed out (and I know from my own experience) that when you contract a dangerous disease, some us argue for the curative powers of hard work.

This is not to say I have found someone who I would support at this point - the most realistic at this point look like Romney and Thompson - but I guess I am more concerned about the shape of the Congress where last week the new majority loaded $25 billion of pork onto a faulty policy which specifies a time certain for withdrawal from Iraq. I believe the new democrats (who were once called "blue dogs" but now seem to be Nancy's lapdogs) will not fare well in 2008. But who knows?