(image via needlenose)
For about a month now word has been going around -- mainly by Rick Stengel of Time and Mark Halpern of The Page -- that former Senator John Edwards will endorse Senator Hillary Clinton. We hear that he is being kept on ice to be thawed at just the right political moment by Clinton & Clinton, LLC (The Corsair sips the black wine of Cahors, elixir of Popes). Said Stengel on The Chris Matthews Show a few weeks ago (via HuffPo):
"John Edwards. Senator John Edwards -- remember him? -- who's been conspicuously silent since he dropped out of the race, will endorse a Democratic candidate probably before North Carolina, certainly before North Carolina, possible before Pennsylvania. And our own Mark Halpern [sic] on the page [sic] says it's going to be Senator Hillary Clinton."
This would be a rather brilliant political strategem, particularly if Hillary wins Pennsylvania. Edwards is from North Carolina, has won statewide office there, and an Edwards endorsement might even help in Indiana, where the middle class white working man-vote (Edwards' country) might veer Clintonian. Many -- this blog included -- have drawn the proverbial line in the sand at Indiana and North Carolina. If Hillary won in both states (and, long shot, went on to win the popular vote), it would give her candidacy a clear rationale.
Today the Edwards family -- and what a compelling narrative they present -- seemed to edge closer to making that endorsement as Elizabeth said publicly that she likes Hillary's health plan better. While, yes, politics makes for strange bedfellows, we cannot help but wonder about this turn of events. Obama and Edwards had a real natural chemistry on the campaign trail and, ehr -- how does one say this without appearing to sound cruel? -- there seemed to be absolutely no Edwards-Clinton chemistry whatsoever. So: WTF?!
Why, Edwards and Obama even, at one debate, teamed up against Hillary. So -- why the turn? We rack our brains for a logical explanation.
There have been rumors, to be sure, that Obama offered Attorney General to Edwards. That would seem a natural fit for Edward, unless he, ambitious, was looking towards a more Powerful role in a Democrat administration. Bill Clinton, the deal-broker par excellence -- except in the case of Richardson -- probably sweetened the pot.
Pure unmitigated speculation on the part of a Corsair: Veep Edwards in a Clinton administration?
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