John Edwards 2008 Campaign Underway

Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards is already in full campaign mode for the 2008 presidential nomination.

John Edwards appears to be vying for party’s nomination (Ashville (NC) Citizen-Times)

John Edwards says he hasn’t decided whether to make another bid for the presidency, but the former Democratic candidate for the nation’s top job appears to be campaigning hard for his party’s nomination in 2008. Edwards, a one-term North Carolina senator who was Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s running mate in 2004, stressed his familiar “two Americas†theme in a speech Thursday to about 2,000 liberal Democratic activists. It was this theme of an economically divided America, where the poor get little help from Republicans and the rich profit handsomely, that Edwards used during his 2004 primary campaign.

[…]

“I have no doubt he’s running for president,†former national Democratic Party chairman Don Fowler said in a telephone interview from South Carolina. “I know he would couch his response in all sorts of qualified terms, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.â€

Edwards, who was criticized during his campaign for being weak on foreign policy, also met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a recent visit to London and is examining U.S.-Russia affairs at the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations.

Edwards, a native of Seneca, S.C., who turns 52 on June 10, heads a recently created poverty-research center at the UNC Chapel Hill, his alma mater. Since November, he has traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire, which hold the nation̢۪s first presidential contests, and swing state Ohio. He remains politically active through his One America Committee and has helped other Democrats raise money.

Mike Munger, a Duke University political scientist, is convinced that Edwards will run for president. If Edwards didn’t want to be president, Munger said, he would have returned to his law practice after the elections. “He has a think tank and a political organization and is giving talks all over the place,†Munger said via e-mail. “This is costing him $10 million a year, at least, in lost legal fees. So, he is serious.â€

My guess is that Edwards’ chances of getting the nomination are even slimmer in 2008 than they were in 2004, since the field of candidates is deeper. If Hillary Clinton stumbles along the way, I would put my money on a Southern governor like Virginia’s Mark Warner or Tennessee’s Phil Breseden.

via Taegan Goddard

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. jwbrown1969 says:

    I don’t think Edwards has much of a chance. I agree Hillary has to stumble for any other Dem to get the nomination.

    I have some thoughts on Hillary’s plan on my blog. I will not post a link but click my name to go there.

  2. Seafarious says:

    The Edwards family just sold their Georgetown home.

  3. traya says:

    Hillary does better in media driven shillary polls, but Edwards does much better than she does where it counts, and that’s matched up agaisnt potential GOP candidates. Shillary is a loss waiting to happen.

  4. traya says:

    They sold their Georgetown home because they are moving back to NC for now, so that Jack and Emma Claire can go to school down there, and because it’s their home.

  5. Karen, USA says:

    Gov. Bredesen is looking very weak after an FBI sting took down six democratic TN legistlators for taking bribes last week. All he could say was “how depressing.” He could have taken the high ground and made pitchers of lemonade out of the lemons but didn’t. He is a competent business man and good administrator but not a very good politician or leader and has the personality of a cardboard box. I voted for him but wouldn’t for president as he would be an example of the Peter Principle at work.

  6. Ashish Patel says:

    I am from TN and BREDESEN isnt looking great due to him cutting people off TENNCARE which is an insurance program the state has and the FBI sting operation and another thing is he isnt the nicest person in the world. Like it is his way or the highway, he is very stubborn and i regret working to elect him last time because he is stubborn in the sense as in bush like as a person he has done a great job i do hand it to him but his people skills are very lacking and if he was running for president he would make kerrys people skills look like gold

  7. SANDY GROGG says:

    I would love to see Edwards run for president in 2008. I would certainly vote for him. In fact, I wanted Edwards to run instead of Kerry last time.

    Hillary is too polarizing….She is the only Democrat I would NOT vote for…She gives me the creeps.