"I believe "it's all about the general election, stupid."  There is no second place in elections.  We must support candidates who can win, if we want to secure the future."

I'm in total agreement with this statement.  Not sure who I'll end up supporting, but Edwards is looking most likely right now.

"John Edwards is the fastest horse in the race, the race that cradles that fragile thing we call the future, and the race that John Edwards will win in November 2008."

I have been waiting for just the right moment to pull this quote from Dave "Mudcat" Saunders:
"Then there's former Virginia House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, arguably the single most effective legislator in the long storied history of the Virginia Assembly"

Chairman Cranwell may have been the most effective legislator, BUT he is also one of the best things to happen to the Democratic Party of Virginia!

My money is on Chairman Cranwell and John Edwards!

that Al Gore enters the race he already won and deserves to serve the position he was already elected to.

::enter Hanson Dan to crush my dreams and shatter my hopes with his logic and common sense::  ;)

I can't think of many who could have said it better!

Gore is not running, not sure how many times he has to say that himself!!

Edwards has the infrastructure in place in primary states, the vision, and the message to take this thing, not to mention the plan to make our nation stronger.

You know I would be in heaven if Gore ran, Jaime.  But I just don't seeing it happened.

There we go.  Dreams crushed and hopes shattered.  Moving on to the next person.

Was that supposed to balance out Kaine's endorsement of Obama tomorrow? I am happy the Chairman has decided to endorse Edwards, good on him.

But.. the headline Sunday will probably be "Popular Virginia Governor Tim Kaine Endorses Obama"

But, good on the Chairman.. we are all going to have our candidates we support.

And when the primary is all over with, it will be time to work together to elect our Democratic President!

We haven't won w/o a southern candidate since 1960.  I don't understand why we never stick with a winning message.....

It's not just geography, it's also a message of economic populism that trumps the republican's cultural populism every time.  See my diary, "The Way Down South," at http://www.dailykos....

Donations on the way to the Va Dems and the Edwards campaign!

Are you seriously troll rating people who aren't supporting Edwards?  That's both hilarious and pathetic.  What, we're trolls now bc we don't agree with you?

I highly suggest you take a look at your principles re: that unwarranted abuse of ratings use.

troll-rating system.  Warning: don't abuse troll rating or you risk being banned from RK.  Just make your argument and leave it at that.  Thanks.

I did not abuse ratings, I responded to "hijackers"...and the problem with RK....if I don't support Clark or Obama or Clark or Obama...sorry, this is not an Edwards friendly site, Lowell, you should know better, you stick it to JRE like he's the plaque.  Geesh.  I'm not a freakin' REPUBLICAN!

I just hate seeing Virginia Dems eating their own.  No wonder our "cajones" are so purple...eh?

You're only hurting your candidate's cause.

1) I have absolutely nothing against John Edwards, and don't believe I've ever said anything bad about him at all.  The most negative thing I have to say about Edwards is that I think his campaign badly mismanaged the "blogger-gate" situation.  Besides that, I would work my butt off to get Edwards - or Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, or pretty much whoever is the Dem. nominee - elected.

2) Even if I COULD remove the ratings system from this blog - it's an integral feature of SoapBlox blogs - why on earth would I?  Ratings systems are part of community blogs for a reason, but unfortunately sometimes there are people who refuse to "play nice," who abuse the system, etc.  I hope you're not one of those people.  As I said, just make your pro-Edwards arguments, don't abuse the ratings system.

4) I don't believe Virginia Dems are "eating their own" here.  This is just rough-and-tumble politics, although I continue to urge people to make the case FOR their candidate more than they make the case AGAINST the others.  (note: that applies to intra-Democratic Party battles, of course, not to the General Election).

But technically beachydem is giving 1s, not troll-zeros.

I don't agree even with the 1s, but it's not really abuse, or at least not any more abusive than coming onto threads of candidates just to post one-liners for some other candidate.

"hijackers" are pathetic here....probably why RK loses so many great bloggers/commenters ?

Sorry you're upset.  Troll ratings are a "O" if I'm not mistaken?

gee, I guess that means my guy is in trouble, right?  After all, the only one I have ever endorsed in a primary who won the nomination was Dukakis.

And if I am the most prominent supporter Tom has right now I guess we will have to simply run under the radar.

I am comfortable with my choice.  And I will be happy to explain to anyone who asks why I support Tom.  Although if you spend some time at his website you can read speeches, watch video, learn about accomplishments, about his wife and kids and what they have accomplished (and I have a dailykos diary on his sons up now).

Nothing against either Edwards or Obama, but neither has come out against reauthorization of NCLB. 

I dont agree with my close friend the chairman, but respect his decision.

It is my opinion that John Edwards is WRONG for this country.  He is an opportunist and I dont trust him.  He and his wife as just as calculating as Bill and Hillary.

Beachydem said that RK isn't Edwards friendly.  Respectfully, I don't agree. 

I have been a supporter of Edwards on this site - and have never had anyone say anything negative to me because of that. 

Maybe some disagree with why I support him, or they oppose him for their own reasons (ie his war vote) - but I think that is OK after all we should be debating who the next nominee will be.

I don't oppose Obama, but also not ready to support him over Edwards.  The reason is his experience (or lack of).  Others here fully support him.  I think this is great - and we can have productive discussions comparing and contrasting the candidates.

The only candidate I really oppose is Clinton, but I still wouldn't attack someone for supporting her.  She is a viable candidate - obviously - when looking at her polling.  I just have my reasons for opposing her - in short I want new blood and leadership.

In any event, I just wanted to say that I have found RK to be rather even handed.

The very, very early Kaine endorsement of Obama concerns me. Why would any Governor endorse this early in such a hotly, contested Presidential race? I strongly fear (since Virginia Governors can serve only one term)that Obama must have offered something to Kaine. I would feel a lot better if Kaine would come out right away and state clearly he will not accept a cabinet position, or other top position, with an Obama administration.Governor Kaine could leave the Virginia Democrats in a helluva fix if he steps down in January '09 t be come Obama's Secretary of Education. Republican Bill Bolling would become Governor which would give him the edge running in the '09 gubernatorial race as an incumbent. Governor, if you're reading this, tell us it ain't so.

I have no idea if this is true

http://virginiavirtu...

...available at this link:  http://www.roanoke.c...

...and including a couple of quotes from Mudcat that I had not seen in earlier news items: 
-----------------------------------------------------------
"'The timing was not an accident, said Dave 'Mudcat' Saunders of Roanoke, a strategist working on Edwards' campaign.

"'Barack Obama's not the only one pitching a tent in Virginia,' Saunders said."
-----------------------------------------------------------
To repeat what many have already understated; it's going to be a very interesting year...

Thanks!

Steve

That is an unfortunate choice of words, at least from a North Carolina point of view.

One of the nicknames given to my former Senator was "Senator Speedway". Edwards received this nickname because there was the perception that he was so hell-bent on campaigning for the Whitehouse during his one and only term in the  Senate, that he kind of left his constituents behind.  Many of us felt like we were a bother to him.

Yes, I know this sounds snarky, but seeing that "fastest horse in the race" comment was like raising a red flag to this Tarheel.