I want John Edwards to stay in. Here's why

1) He's got an important message and people need to hear it.

2) He owes it to his supporters. He's been saying he'll fight for them. That's exactly what he should do.

3) Democrats deserve a choice. People in the Feb 5th states- and there are 24 of them- should be able to vote their choice. He has considerable support in multiple states.

4) OK, you won't like this one, but his staying in helps my candidate in South Carolina.

Calls for JE to get out because he's a spoiler are ludicrous. He's a democrat. He's in the democratic primary race.

You might just as well call for Clinton and Obama to drop out so as not to be spoilers for Edwards or Kucinich.

and I think Obama is aour best chance to stop that from happening.
Edwards can stay in and get his 10-15% or not, I am voting for Obama now.

Have someone PM me to take you off of ignore when you change it.

Obama would do much more for the causes he cares about than Clinton.
Keep me on ignore as long as you like.

The message he presents needed to be said round the world!

There are competing modes of analysis.

Some say Edwards splits the anti-Clinton vote, projecting their feelings toward Clinton into assuming there is a 60% anti-Clinton vote in the Party. There is no such thing.

Real data suggests Edwards splits the non-Obama vote.

90% of voters have no idea about policy positions, and don't much care. Progressive DU Edwards supporters have little in common with the people who have actually turned out to vote for Edwards. The Edwards vote is white, moderate, union, working class, less educated... the heart of the Clinton coalition. Given Edwards' large gender gap, we are talking about a bunch of working class white men who don't like Hillary or Barack.

When push comes to shove, most of them will end up on the Clinton ledger. (60-40 is still "most")

believe he's a spoiler for Clinton. Obama is the spoiler or vice versa. Any way you want to view it. My candidate Dennis Kucinich is a spoiler for Edwards, but the Edwards and Kucinich votes were never going to Hillary or Obama. If we had run off voting then people would see how true this is. Besides I want a choice in the primaries and Clinton and Obama are not a choice for me.

to claim that. And you don't have a clue where Edwards voters are going. Even DU contradicts your claim as plenty of Edwards voters list Obama as a second choice. I'm all for IRV, but I don't see that it would help your candidate measurably.

I'm so sorry I polluted your thread with MY OPINION.

I brought it up because it should be discussed as to who the spoilers actually are, if they are spoilers. I'm outta here. :-(

...or especially of beating Obama, right?

they both might lose support to JE.

as it did to Gary Hart back in the 70s.

:hi:

He formerly served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing Colorado (1975–1987), and ran in the U.S. presidential elections in 1984 and again in 1988, when he was considered a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination until withdrawing.


Just thought I would point this out so you would know when Hart ran.:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4043347&mesg_id=4043347

:hi:

Exception of #4. I'm not sure who of the top two JE is helping or hurting more, but my guess is that he hurts Obama more. I can be convinced otherwise, however.

At the very least, JE should remain in the race to push the overall debate in a more populist direction, and he has just enough support to do just that. We've already seen evidence of this happening.

I know we butt heads a lot, but you're right on target here. His message IS an important one. And I do think it often helps the other candidates.

particularly in debates where he does a better job than either of them. What's more, they need to hear his message as much as anyone. It's a poweful one and it's changing the race.

As I've stated before, that's one of the main reasons I support him regardless of anyone's doubts.

valid reasons...in addition to your #4 (which is also valid and very reasonable ;-) )

k&r

although I don't necessarily disagree with your point #3. I don't feel the need to post every thought that comes into my head to manipulate a board.