CURIOUSLY STRONG. As Badler notes, John Edwards continues to demonstrate surprising strength in polls, beating John McCain in head-to-head match-ups even as McCain outruns both Obama and Clinton. Add in Edwards' astonishing lead in Iowa, the union support which should help him out in Nevada, and the hometown connection with South Carolina, and the genial Southerner can probably afford to wait out the Obama boomlet. In a weird way, Obama and Edwards occupy similar slots: They're both charismatic, eloquent, "electable," and young. But, in 2008, they'll be running precisely opposite campaigns. Edwards is staking his claim on a politics of populism: Ferociously pro-union, fiercely critical of Wal-Mart economy, profoundly engaged with problems of poverty, and so on. Obama, by contrast, looks to be positioning himself towards a politics of moral uplift, one everyone from David Brooks to Rosa Brooks can get behind. In other words, Edwards will be hoping his sharply carved out positions win him intensity votes, while Obama will be trying to draw from a middle he believes craves inspiration and purpose. Should be an interesting contest, particularly when Obama has to start sharpening his policies (David Brooks and Rosa Brooks, after all, disagree on fairly consequential matters) and Edwards has to defend his wide appeal. For now, though, the merry populist shows no signs of compromising his messgae, as this bit from the other night's Hardball should demonstrate:
--Ezra Klein
