I've been telling my friends for the last six months -- John Edwards is the most electable Democrat running for President.
The latest polls back me up.
Joe Trippi, Senior Advisor for the Edwards campaign, just released comments on the poll released today by CNN.
CNN shows that John Edwards performs the best of any Democratic candidate against each of the leading Republicans.In fairness to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the poll shows they would also beat Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, although by slimmer margins. John McCain beat Clinton and tied Obama in the poll.
According to the polling director for CNN, John is the only Democrat who beats all four of the leading Republicans. In one-on-one match-ups, John Edwards beats Mike Huckabee by 25 percent, Mitt Romney by 22 percent, John McCain by eight percent and Rudy Giuliani by 11 percent.
Is electability all that matters? Of course not.
"Edwards is the only Democrat who beats all four Republicans, and McCain is the only Republican who beats any of the three Democrats," Keating Holland, CNN's polling director said. "Some might argue this shows that they are the most electable candidates in their respective parties.Or maybe electability is always overrated. Remember John Kerry? Al Gore?
"But Edwards is in third place among Democrats, and McCain is in fourth place on the GOP side. Maybe electability is not as important as it was in 2004."
Electability aside, I think John Edwards is the best candidate. (More on that later.) Clinton and Obama are lesser candidates not only because of their positions on the issues, but also because they might lose to the eventual Republican nominee. And worse, both would mobilize rightwing Republican voters who might otherwise stay at home to get out and vote. That would be bad news in the 2008 state and local elections.
