John Edwards' "rural liaison" (how's that for a business card title?), 'Mudcat' Saunders, has proclaimed that if John Edwards is the Democrat nominee, he will win at least 4 Southern states ...
Personally, I don't buy it.
After his surprising performance in 2004, John Edwards had a real chance to position himself as the next Bill Clinton (you know, a "new" Democrat from the South who doesn't hate NASCAR ...).
And with many rural conservatives angry at the GOP, Edwards could have been right there to fill in the gap. I mean, Rahm Emanuel did a pretty good job of showing that a "conservative" Democrat could, in this environment, do pretty well. Edwards could have become a sort of a "national" version of Heath Schuler ...
And ironically, by occupying this niche, he might have been able to win the nomination by arguingthat only he could win a General Election ...
But lucky for us, Edwards saw that the money, bloggers, Labor Unions, and activists on the Left would be needed to win Iowa, and then, presumably, the nomination. So Edwards made a Faustian bargain with the Left. (If Bill Clinton had a Sister Souljah moment, John Edwards went the other direction, and had a "Markos Moulitsas moment.")
As a result, even if Edwards does win the nomination (which won't happen), it would be a Pyrrhic victory; Johnny "Haircut" Edwards would be lucky to win his own home state, let alone three other Southern states ...