Sorry I missed the information about the town hall meeting in Reno that happened yesterday, I didn't realize there were going to be two of them on Friday. I wasn't home anyway, off helping family move and again today, but hopefully not all day. The next town hall is in West Columbia, South Carolina, doors open at 1pm EST. Later in the day there will be another in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at 4pm.
There is a blog entry here talking about the Senators use of YouTube for his early campaign activities and a couple of other places that are following the campaign around and vlogging on the town hall meetings. The AP is reporting that Edwards has resigned as the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity to focus on his run for President. I'm sure they'll miss having what the Senator brought to the table, but they know he can do a heck of a lot more for the cause as President of the United States. Meanwhile, Newsday talks up the differences between Edwards and Hillary Clinton.
In the short run, however, the silver-tongued former senator from North Carolina poses serious tactical challenges for Clinton, especially with the addition of two Edwards-friendly states to the early 2008 primary calendar, analysts say.
Getting Nevada was huge for Edwards chances, and South Carolina definitely helps with a taste of the under appreciated South. It is long past time for Iowa and New Hampshire to stop deciding who our candidate is going to be and return to the fold as an equal voice in the primaries instead of dictating the outcome for the rest of the country.
All that centrist goodwill won't ensure her success in early Democratic primaries - especially Iowa - which tilt left. She finished fourth in a recent Iowa primary poll with 10 percent; Edwards and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama took first with 22 percent each.
I think that Obama figures to be a lot like Howard Dean in that he's popular now because he's unknown to everyone, sadly that is his greatest appeal. When it comes to voting in the primary, people are going to go with who they think can best do the job. Perhaps some day that will be for Obama, but I'm not ready to hand over the keys to the country to a guy that hasn't even served one full term yet.
Clinton's advisers refuse to comment about future match-ups on the record, but privately say polls simply reflect Edwards and Obama have been politicking in Iowa and Clinton hasn't. "Once she's on the ground, those numbers will change in a hurry," a Clinton staffer said on condition of anonymity.
I'm worried about that too. Maybe we'll get lucky and Hillary will stay put for the time being. I like her and all, but people who play coy just piss me off. If she wants me vote, she needs to come out and ask me for it, and convince me that she deserves it. Edwards already did that once so he gets a free pass, she doesn't.
"His message is 'I'm me - take it or leave it,'" said one Democratic operative. "Hillary doesn't have a message yet, except 'I'm the front-runner.' That will have to change if she's going to have a chance."
Here is another vlog from a site that supports Edwards in Iowa, and what appears to be an online magazine post about what Edwards will be up against fundraising in New York. If Hillary enters the game, then it shouldn't really matter because she is going to get those bucks anyway, and New York isn't a deciding state in the primaries quite like Iowa and New Hampshire are. Now I'm from New York, and yet I still can't stress how important I think it is that the DNC convention not take place there. There is absolutely nothing to gain in that state that Democrats don't already have or need that amounts to anything but taking small percentages.
Going there will just give ammunition to conservatives who love to cry themselves to sleep about the ultra-liberal Northeast corridor, and we really don't need to be helping them with that. Denver is a plenty good choice amongst the ones out there and we'd be stupid to throw that party at home.
From redstate.com:
Steph was on the offense from the get-go: "Back in 2004, you criticized President Bush for exploiting the tragedy of 9/11 by having his convention in New York City. Aren't you exploiting Katrina by announcing your candidacy in New Orleans?"
Edwards didn't respond directly to the exploitation allegation, asserting only that he was seeking to draw attention to New Orleans's plight. And not to himself? At the risk of reading too much into every jot and tittle, I'd say that Steph's formulation "aren't you exploiting?" is considerably more accusatory than would have been "are you exploiting?"
That's a fair and tough question that the media completely ignored when we wanted them to ask Republicans about it, but one that has an easy answer for us. Bush did exploit 9/11 by having the convention there (the site of a large and disturbing illegal detention of protestors for the RNC deal) because that's the only thing he was actually doing in New York. Edwards has been in and out of New Orleans ever since Katrina ravaged the city, helping out any way he could. That kind of work is a central theme to his campaign and it's natural for him to be there. We should all be there.
