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but seriously, did it seem likely to anyone that john edwards would endorse hillary? i myself started out as an edwards supperter: i felt so unhistoric until he dropped out (though i was also hedging my hopes with richardson). however, it seems like this endorsement of obama is one of the few that matters due to the content of his policy’s appeal and obama’s similar appeal. it may be difficult to say that obama is as overtly populist, as in each of edwards’ overtures sings of populism.
these campaign seasons, only differentiated by the population of candidates has had many recurring themes. a favorite of people are the process stories where people get to nitpick over the way in which elections and nominations happen. terry mcAuliffe, clintons top aide, has made an amazing attempt to elevate and conflate the issue of the michigan and florida primaries from being non-issue, non-competitive un-certified ballots to being the last ditch, final countdown of disenfranchisement of two major swing states.
process is a type of story people eat up because its a distraction from the actual candidates and their policies and the person gets a different metric to consider a candidate, albeit abstractly. there is really only a negative reaction possible to process stories. when the clinton campaign started up the issue of michigan/florida, they are experienced and savvy enough to know that there would be no positive impact for anyone; it was a gamble to be injured less.