Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Who will the Edwards voters support?

Today John Edwards will be announcing his withdrawal from the race for president. At 1:00PM today, he'll make the speech that will end his race.

The question now is, who will Edwards' former supporters vote for now? In most of the primaries up to this point, Edwards pulled enough votes that his percentage would be enough to swing the elections.

Nobody expects all of Edwards' supporters to shift en masse to one of the two remaining Democratic front runners. But two things will come into play here. First, will Edwards throw his support to Hillary or Barack, and if so, how many voters will follow his recommendation? And more importantly, which candidate most closely matches Edwards in his political philosophy? Because I think that's going to be the defining reason for Edwards Democrats to select who to support, more than because of his endorsement.

There's just enough time for a new round of polling to get done before Super Tuesday. With Rudy and Edwards gone, it'll be interesting to see what the polls reflect going into next week's "national" primary.

Of course, polling results should be taken with a grain of salt, since they've been particularly unreliable this year.

I'd like to hear from Edwards supporters about who they'll support now, and why. Feel free to include your comments below.

13 comments:

fuzzyturtle said...

I'm not sure I'd be counted as an edwards 'supporter'.. but I was going to vote for him in the upcoming primary on Tuesday.

I'm moving to Billary.

Sure Obama is smart, inspirational, has integrity, blah blah blah.. but hes short on details on what he's going to do on the looming financial crisis (I wouldn't call it a recession, at least not the way I was taught to define one in grad school.. but it is a crisis) but with healthcare and foreign policy.

CHANGE is an ad slogan. If he comes up with something concrete before Tuesday, I'll revisit.

but right now I don't see it.

Kim Jong-il isn't the only one who can have a cult of personality (I've been using this phrase WAAAY too much in the past few weeks it's starting to bug me)

so put me down for the white chick

Anonymous said...

I was going to vote Edwards as a reaction against Hilarack sucking all the oxygen out of the primary process. I honestly don't know who I'm going to vote for on Tuesday.

I'm thinking maybe a write in. I've never done that.

Headless Horseman said...

I believe the Edwards voters will move to Romney. That's because people who were voting for Edwards were clearly only interested in a candidate with great hair.

Sellitman (Kevin) said...

After the debate tonight this Edwards supporter is voting for Obama. He seemed on task tonight and very presidential. Hillary's IRW vote was a huge judgement error i cannot overlook.

fuzzyturtle said...

Hillary's IRW vote was a huge judgement error i cannot overlook.

oh get over it. She's said repeatedly if I knew then what I know now.. Obama wasn't around when that first vote was cast and even I thought the President wouldnt blatantly lie to the american people like he did.

find another reason (if you can. It' might even require a GRASP OF THE ISSUES ya know)

Anonymous said...

On the issue of the "IRW"

I want a president who gets it right the first time.

Also where would Hillary be without her lastname. Obama is a self made candidate.

Sellitman (Kevin) said...

Fuzzy Turtle: Your personal attack on me tells me all I need to know about your "grasp". Hillary has backed bush's war at almost every chance. She also voted for the Kyle- Lieberman Amendment most recently. Her mistakes have cost many of our boys their lives. I won't "get over it", and neither will many of the parents who have lost loved ones. Therefor she won't get my vote. Plain and simple. I will also be donating time and money to Senator Obama.

Get over it.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure who I am voting for now. I was an edwards supporter because I felt he was a good advocate for the poor and working poor.
I was firmly against the dynasty of Bush I and II (besides W being morally reprehensible) and I kind of feel that there needs to be new blood in the White House, but at the same time, I am not so convinced you can compromise with conservatives (holy Joe, anyone?) so I am not sure Obama is prepared for the battles to come.
I am actually thinking of sitting the primary out.

anyone catch Holy Joe out phone banking for McCain? Hillary and Obama should have taken his hypocritical ass out when they had the chance. At least Edwards came and campaigned with Ned.
UptownNYChick

Anonymous said...

Obama. Despite claims above to the contrary, Hill never has admitted the IRW vote was a mistake. Then she followed up with a potentially similar impact with Kyl-Lieberman. Not to mention her immense CORPORATE backing! IMO, any true JRE supporter cannot, in good conscience, vote for HRC.

J

Sellitman (Kevin) said...

How about you Bob?

CT Bob said...

I'm in Obama's camp. My reasons are both practical and intuitive.

Just the other night in the debate, Hillary wouldn't commit to an absolute withdrawal date from Iraq. Obama did. Sorry Hil. Just for that ONE point, he'd get my vote.

The Clinton's quick embrace of Rovian tactics, such as her endless repeating of the "lack of experience" meme really irks me. I don't know how a one-term Senator can attack another one-term Senator for lack of experience. If Hillary had been a member of Bill's cabinet or held an important State Dept. job, then maybe I'd be swayed her way. But being First Lady isn't as big a deal as she makes it to be. Otherwise, Laura Bush would be running for president right now.

Then there's the idea that if she's so experienced, then maybe she's TOO much a DC insider. Obama is much more of an outsider, and he may bring some needed changes to the usual way of doing business.

But other issues, such as Obama's inspirational speeches, compared to Clinton's practiced and calculated talks, helped me reach a decision. After eight long years of divisive politics, we need someone who can inspire unity among people.

Do I think Obama is the perfect person for the job? No. Not hardly. But I tend to feel that he'll be slightly more effective than Clinton when he's in office. And when we're faced with two equally conservative candidates, I've got to choose the one I think will at least possibly be the better one.

And besides, to paraphrase Bill Clinton about the Lamont-Lieberman race, we'll probably win either way. At least compared to what the Republicans would probably unleash on our nation if they win.

Anonymous said...

Edwards was my #1 and I will still vote for him on Tuesday.

will said...

Leaning more and more towards Obama. If anything, his ability to garner bipartisan support and inspire traditionally apathetic youth to actually come out and want to do something for their country is something deserving of a compliment. Hillary is a solid leader, but again - the Iraq war vote was a mistake that upsets me (and as sellitman put excellently, I'm not going to "get over it").