Trippi is right, and I hate to admit it.

From the email today:

"With 7 days left until the end of the quarter, we are closing in on $7 million and everyone is doing their part. Small change for big change is working.

But while thousands of people are building up this campaign, the Washington establishment is trying to write us out of the race. And their reason? They say it's MONEY - they don't think we are raising an obscene enough amount. But the truth is, they don't want people to hear what John Edwards is saying, because it will mean the end of big money's stranglehold over our government.

Our plan calls for raising $9 million this quarter and if we do - no matter what the chatter boxes say - we will be ahead of pace to have the resources we need to compete and win in the early primary states. That's when the Edwards campaign will have our day in the sun, but we need your help to get there.

We have 7 days to reach $9 million and every dollar counts. Please give what you can:

http://johnedwards.com/r/20017/97387/

And it is what the campaign is about.

"Thank you so much for your support.

I never accept any money from lobbyists or PACs, so our victory depends on people like you pitching in. And that's the way it should be.

Your contribution will enable us to reach out to voters in living rooms, town halls, and on the airwaves. You're helping us build support for transformational change in early primary states and across the country."

You are most welcome.

John is a good lawyer. Does he have any of his stffers looking into which other candidates are doing any illegal stuff? He knows how to win arguments in court, so why haven't I seen that part of him in the debates?

I like John. I haven't really decided who I'm going to vote for in the primary yet, but I really want him to stay in the race! I want him to remain one of my choices.

I don't want the fact that the media talks only of Hillary and Obama to be a factor.

there are many others who do the same. I realize it will take a lot of us, but I'd sure rather have someone be Prez who depended on US than one who depended on the big business dollars to get there!

Please, come join me folks! I could only send him $10.00, but if we all sent him that much, he can stick around for February!

Playing the victim can be a good campaign strategy to help raise sympathy dollars from supporters, I suppose.

But the fact that Edwards is polling where he is is due neither the media nor the Washington establishment, in my view. It's always hard for supporters of a candidate to understand such things, because they can't imagine how other people could not see the candidate in as wonderful a light as they see the candidate.

It's not about money, it's about the candidate. Edwards is a good man, but it's clear that not a lot of Democrats see him as Presidential material at this point. Folks know who Edwards is; he was the VP candidate last time around.

No, it's not about the media or the establishment. It's about Edwards.

Trippi is right they are trying to dry up his fundraising by making him sound like he's not raising.

He is pointing out the goal they have.

name recognition.

than any other candidate, if you don't count AG. Edwards has a progressive message. I haven't given any money, but I am now.

Thanks for persuading me.

edited for spelling

Against John Edwards. You have been since the day you showed up. Nowadays when I see your posts on an Edwards thread all I hear are those "Waa waa waa" noises Charlie Brown's teacher used to make.

and they spend it attacking other Democrats. They have their own agendas and they don't know how pathetic their constant negative posts look to the rest of us. I truly believe that every Democrat that is running for president brings something to the table and we should listen to what each of them are saying and not what the media thinks we need to know about them. The same should be true here too.

It would be a lot nicer around here if people talked about the ideas and issues that the candidates think are important rather than spend their time trolling for threads about certain candidates so they can jump on them and try to turn them into something other than something substantive. Believe me, I feel your pain.

I just wanted to thank you for speaking up and to say there's a lot of things that Edwards says that people should hear.

The media wants large campaign coffers because they benefit. If they don't think you're coffers are going to be big enough they will try to help you out of the race as soon as possible. They will go out of their way to marginalize some candidates by either ridiculing them or refusing to cover them.

The media only cares about the money that candidates raise because they get a big chunk of it in advertising dollars. The media knows the more a candidate raises the more their campaign will spend on advertising. Campaign dollars means that television conglomerates get their local station affiliates ad money & interviews to increase their ratings. Campaign dollars also provides advertising revenue for local papers which are dependent on the large wire companies for their news and columnists (the latter of which cover national politics).

There are other reasons why the media is trying to slim the field down. Multiple campaigns means they need more reporters to cover the candidates or they have to rely on their local affiliates to cover events. They push the idea of "top tier" candidates to try to push candidates (and voices) out of the race. The "top tier" designation also serves to marginalize the candidates that aren't raising as much money or, as I firmly believe, the media marginalizes candidates the reporters don't particularly like. All the candidates have good things to say the media just doesn't have enough reporters to cover it.

As the campaign season continues and field is winnowed down the pool of reporters gets concentrated and they get assigned to certain candidates. This means the campaign money is concentrated to a few candidates and the amenities that the campaigns can provide the reporters improve. They get better food and get to hang out with the candidate (that they helped choose viz a viz their coverage).

KnR