What effect is Edwards having on the race?

[jackson_dem]

How far to the right would the other candidates have been if Edwards hadn't set the agenda in a progressive direction?

[Egnever]

1. None

Kucinich took em to the left.

[jackson_dem]

2. Since when do candidates at 1% in the polls influence the rest?

Do you think Duncan Hunter influenced Romney and McCain?

[Egnever]

3. Tom Tancredo sure as hell did

do you deny it?

[jackson_dem]

4. No. Polls did

If Tancredo was that influential he would not have been mired at 1%. You could argue Romney, and then later Thompson, pushed McCain and Giuliani to the right.

Immigration is to them what Iraq is to us.

[Egnever]

5. he was a one trick pony

Just like Edwards he didn't effect much but his impact on the immigration issue was huge on the right side.

Kooch is a lot deeper than tancredo. The idea that Edwards pushes anyone anywhere i find laughable. Well i guess he did push people towards the patriot act and the IWR and the bankruptcy bill but he sure as hell is pushing the other way now.

He just isn't credible. If he didn't have a record calling himself a liar I might think he actually pushed someone somewhere. Lucky for him theres lots of people that seem to be able to forget that but giving him credit for what Kooch did is beyond silly. In fact kooch made him what he is today!

[jackson_dem]

6. Immigration was a big issue for the rethugs in 2006

I don't think we can credit Tancredo's presidential run for it. Crediting him for that would be like crediting Kucinich or Gravel for making Iraq a big issue in the Democratic contest. Immigration was just a big issue for rethugs. Tancredo thought he could capitalize on it but couldn't.

Edwards has led on almost every substantive issue. He has pushed the celebrity $100 million candidates as much as Dean pushed Kerry in 2004.

Wellstone, Kennedy, Leahy, and everyone else except one voted for the Patriot Act. Obama voted to renew it after running against it. Leahy and most Democrats voted for bankruptcy too. Obama voted against capping interest rates at 30% during the latest bankruptcy bill. Now there is no limit.

Edwards is honest. Unlike Bush and one of our candidates when he is wrong he admits it. Obamites hide behind Obama's not having a record. Do you think Kennedy is a liar because he voted for China trade, the Patriot Act, wrote No Child Left Behind and then changed his view on all three? No. Because it is a stupid view to take. That and the fact Kennedy isn't running against St. Obama of No Record.

Kucinich is a non-factor in terms of influencing outcomes and policies of candidates (although he did provide a valuable voice in debates to say important things to voters). Only on the netroots is he important. The idea that he influenced anyone is as credible as the idea Duncan Hunter influenced the top Republican candidates. Kucinich's MO since he began running for president is taking the most left-wing position possible anyway. I don't see what credit he can be given. No one who intends on winning would ever go as left as him.

[Egnever]

8. Tancredo started the immigration BS

He didn't latch onto it. It is why he was given a shot at all on the puke side. Pretending he didn't drive that issue on the puke side is just not paying attention.

And your damn right I would say the same thing about kennedy if he chose to make his platform about how he was fighting for it his whole life.

Ill take no limit on what the credit card companies long before I will take making it impossible for people to get out from under that debt no matter what the rate was.

You act like voting for the bankruptcy bill is a good thing cause it limited the credit companies to a 30% cap. Thats just retarded.

The stupid ass corporate candidate BS is another one of Edwards convenient lies. If you go through the donors the % of money the candidates receive from "corporations" of their whole is nearly identical. The fact that edwards gets less cash from EVERYONE doesn't make him more or less corporate. It means he has less support from everyone period. Were he to become the frontrunner by some freakish miracle you would see the corporate cash pour in just like it does for the others. The only thing he has going for him is the fact that he doesn't take pac or lobbyist money but then neither does Obama but he still out raises Edwards 20-1.

His line of snake oil just ain't selling except with people unwilling to look past what he says in the last year and thats why he isn't making it.

[jackson_dem]

9. Tancredo didn't start anything

Tancredo has been whining about immigration for years. If he had that much power he would have caused immigration to be an issue long before 2006. What caused it was a combination of simmering grassroots anger over it among rethugs and Bush's immigration bill.

Kennedy voted for the Patriot Act, then changed his mind. Kennedy voted for normal relations with China, then said it didn't work out as intended. Kennedy voted for and wrote No Child Left Behind, then wanted to revise it. Obamites hide behind St. Obama having no record. Obama's thugs could--and would have--swiftboated even Ted Kennedy as being rethug lite.

Obama voted against an amendment to cap interest rates at 30%. I didn't talk about the bill. He voted no. Now there is no limit. See how easy it is to flyspeck a record to find a few votes to distort a candidate's record. I wish Hillary continues doing it with Obama. He deserves it. It is a shame Edwards disarmed in the fight against Obama. Now he is paying a price for it. He should have went after Obama hard from the very beginning just like Obama and his cronies did to Edwards.

The percentage of money argument is stupid. $100 million is not $30 million. No amount of Obamite spin can change that. Look at who his advisers are too...

Obama out raised Edwards about 3-1, not 20-1. The only place Obama out raised Obama by that high a margin was a certain place in Manhattan. Take a guess what street...

Edwards ran an honest campaign on policy. If he limited himself to fluff he could have done better. Edwards, though, wants a mandate for change. You don't get that if you run on a Kool Aid platform.

[BeachBuckeye]

7. Sadly, none at all

Originally, I thought he would have a big influence but so far none at all.

[jackson_dem]

10. MLK III thinks otherwise

[jasmine621]

11. He is really hurting HC. nt

[LizW]

12. We'll find out

how far right after the inauguration.