Thanks for the endorsements, guys! ;-)

I don’t know what you’re up to, but it’s nice to know you’re out there.  Miss all of you very much.

I’ll go back to tilting at windmills.

The Obama-Edwards Summit: What it means

From ABC News Political Radar, Obama and Edwards Sit Down in North Carolina, the post describes a meeting presumably to talk about an Edwards endorsement. Hmmmm, of course, Obama would benefit greatly from an Edwards endorsement but why? Why not just ask John to remain uncommitted until after March 4? That way, no one benefits and both have to earn delegates the old fashioned way- in the voting booth.

Unless, Obama can’t win votes that way.

Bear with me. I think I’ve mentioned before that Obama is spending money like it’s going out of style. His pattern is to go to the inner city and drum up support among the African-American population. (BTW, this is not a racist comment, it’s just an observation based on that staple of all political campaigns- vote counting.). But he can’t convert the money to a win in states where the African-American vote doesn’t reach a critical mass. In bigger, more diverse states, the African-American vote is more dilute. So, what does he have left in the primary schedule? He has a lot of large, diverse states without a critical mass of his core constituent voters. He needs to capture the working class guys in WI, OH and PA. So, he petitions Edwards for his endorsement. Probably really, REALLY pleads for an endorsement. But the Edwards endorsement will not get him the votes he needs. Why?

Because somewhere on the web, there is an article that shows that populist Edwards, that candidate for the little guy, was the champion for the middle class and elite Democratic regulars. Yep, populist Edwards was really backed by guys like Paul Krugman not Jake the Plumber. It may be one of the reasons he flamed this time out. For some reason, he couldn’t capture the people he wanted to help. Those people are voting for Hillary.

So, what this is telling me is that Obama might be a cocky frontrunner but he’s in deep @#$% in the states he needs to sew this up. I expect the meeting between Clinton and Edwards was somewhat different. More along the lines of, “We’d really appreciate your support, your people mean a lot to us and you know that as far as policy goes, you can count on us to carry your banner in the White House. But if you can’t endorse now, we understand. Maybe you can let things play out and think the matter over after March 4. If there’s anything you need, John, please give us a call. We’re always available.”

Betcha Obama’s meeting involved a lot more sweat.