Why Not Edwards?

The Daytona Beach News Journal, home of columnist and friend of Into My Own Pierre Tristam, has published and endorsement that states the case for Edwards succinctly:

So much of what was great about America has been corrupted by the unprincipled policies of the Bush White House and Republican Congress that catered to wealth and privilege even as they weakened the middle class and abandoned the poor. Edwards grew up in a working-class family, working summers in a textile mill. He was the first in his family to go to college and is more eloquent and believable than the other contenders when each pledges to stand up to big business and other special interests.

He's not capturing national headlines after Barack Obama's win in the Iowa caucus and Hillary Clinton's comeback in New Hampshire last week. But only a small fraction of the primary votes have been cast. Florida Democrats can give Edwards a deserved boost toward the nomination Jan. 29. John Edwards has the intellectual clarity, values, experience, good judgment and message to represent his party well against the Republican challenger in November.

The Journal's editorial makes the point I have made here often (and at least one member of the Editorial board is a regular reader!): Edwards has the best credentials for challenging corporate power, having built his career doing so. As Edwards says, you can't sit at the table with corporate power and expect them to give up. You have to take power away from them. And yet too many voters seem unconvinced by that argument (or, thanks to the msm's journalistic malpractice, they haven't heard it).

Then I read Matt Stoller's piece on "Swing Liberals" in which he argues that the progressive base of the party, the creative class, and the bloggers don't appear to have coalesced around a single candidate, I wonder, "why not?" Stoller suggests that there isn't a passion out there for any candidate:

The data shows that creative class liberals and/or women and/or ideologically liberal blocks moved from Obama to Clinton. So far, Moveon, Democracy for America, blogs, and associated creative class liberal groups have remained either completely or mostly neutral in the primary. This is reflective not of any top-down decision-making, but of a basic lack of passion from the audience of those groups for any candidate. As one can see from the shifts of those groups from Iowa to New Hampshire, these are swing groups. That said, it's not clear to me that the internet left is that tied into these liberal voting blocks direct. We might be, but no one really knows.

I'm pretty sympathetic to Obama because his media reform proposals are quite good. But the more I hear about his other policies, the less inclined I am to give him credence as a progressive. And while ideology is only one form of identity-creation, it's one that would benefit Obama.

Anyway, it looks to me like the swing liberals are up for grabs in the primary.

So I'm reading this and thinking, Why not Edwards?

What does the guy have to do? He's had the most consistent progressive agenda throughout the campaign, and he's run a positive, uplifting campaign. He's talked about bread and butter issues that matter to working people. He's fought corporate irresponsibility and won. I don't get it.

I have to admit, there's something about Edwards that doesn't grab people in this personality and hype-driven media culture we are locked in. I think people have been drawn to Clinton in part because of her toughness against the GOP onslaught, and in part for nostalgia for the economic boom of the Clinton years. Obama is an exciting speaker, and has a great deal of personal energy. I think people are attracted to him because they feel those qualities will propel him to the White House. But as the Krugman column Stoller cites explains, his policy ideas are always a step behind... Edwards. But Edwards still can't catch a break.

Maybe Edwards will turn it around. Maybe he will still make a run. But it doesn't seem likely at this point. The media is against him, and the grassroots aren't lining up behind him. Too bad. He could have been the Dem's best hope.