Quote Originally Posted by hoosier
Hopeless candidates have been playing the spoiler since electoral politics began. What makes Edwards so different from his umpteengazillion precedesors?
I never admire any spoiler. Edwards is a little worse than most because not only is he fuzzying-up the will of the people on the central decision of the campaign (Clinton vrs Obama), he is seeking to later leverage his thin slice of the pie to play the system.

And it's not being done honestly. He is pretending that he still trying to win the Presidency, and some supporters believe him. Even an observor as keen as Postal Joe just argued that Edwards has a slight chance to win because few delegates have been allocated at this point. Well, on closer inspection this is nonsense: to actually win the presidency, Edwards would have to win first place in several February 5 primaries. Edwards doesn't have a realistic shot to win a single state. South Carolina was his strongest state and he was creamed.


Quote Originally Posted by hoosier
In Edwards's defense, there is another possible motive for staying in the race that you don't mention--above and beyond mere power brokering: by staying in the running he can in principle force the candidates who do have a serious chance to face issues they would prefer to avoid.
Name a single issue where Edwards has a position substantially different from Obama or Clinton. There are none.