Positioning

Before tomorrow's primary in Wisconsin, folks are continuing the political game of "position yourself for the future." For example, Barack Obama sat down with John Edwards in a not-so-secret meeting yesterday in NC. No details were revealed of course, and Edwards didn't tip his hand about an endorsement. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23213622/ I don't try to get into the heads of politicians, that's too scary a neighborhood. But it does seem that Edwards has problems with both Clinton and Obama. It's been reported that Clinton has been more solicitous of his endorsement but I'm sure Obama's momentum comes into play. For Edwards, a purely political calculation would be to position himself as the potential tie-breaker in a down-to-the-wire race. If he waits until June to release his delegates, he could effectively hand the nomination to one of the candidates and become a huge player in the Democratic Party. My guess is that he wants to see how the March 4th primaries play out before making a choice. The one down side to this strategy is if Obama has the clear track to the nomination--without Edwards help--then Edwards' loses some viability. On the other hand, both Clinton and Obama have to be wary of total fealty to Edwards' issues if they want to move to the center for the general election. Because there ain't nothing center about John Edwards.

Speaking of the general, The Republican National Committee held a summit in the lion's den known as Los Angeles to figure out how to beat Obama in the fall. As my dad used to say, it's never too early to worry. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8564_Page2.html
Innovative ideas were floated such as "Hit him on inexperience" and "we'll highlight his inexperience" and "he's not ready to be Commander-In-Chief, he's too inexperienced". Though I make fun, it does occur to me that these were the guys who convinced half of America to vote twice for a guy whose resume included a spotty career in the National Guard, total failure as an oil executive, a trade which sent a baseball superstar to another team, and one term as governor of a state with the weakest constitutional governorship in the country. Hmm. I'll shut up now.

And speaking of governors and positioning (I love it when it all ties together), there's Tim Pawlenty or 'TPaw' as he's known in Minnesooota. Many are positioning him as the front runner for McCain's VP. Young, charismatic, blue-collar and politically deft (two term conservative governor in a Democratic state), he seems to fit the bill. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8564_Page2.html
He stuck with McCain when he was down last summer and now he's riding high. His influence in that region is important because Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are all in play for both parties. His only drawback as I see it, is that he does not help McCain in the South, where Mike Huckabee exposed some serious vulnerability. If the Democratic nominee tabs a Southerner, even a Virginian like Tim Kaine or Jim Webb, that could be trouble.

So tell me who you think Edwards will endorse, who will be MCCain's Veep (give me some other names, too) or anything else you want to talk about. Click 'comments', by-pass the Google sign-up, hit nickname or anonymous.