Edwards’ Smokescreen?

I’m eagerly awaiting the announcement by John Edwards that is scheduled for noon. As I wait, here is my thought. While I fully appreciate his wife’s illness, and wish her no harm, I’m not quite sure that her ailment is the only reason for his campaign suspension.Earlier this week, Patrick Ruffini detailed the trouble Edwards was having in campaign fundraising. Despite his standing among the leftroots, Edwards is raising less than stellar amounts of money. His ActBlue total is a little over $1.1 million now, and that is pretty weak by the standard of what Hillary and Obama are raising. His campaign can’t possibly have much fuel and the one thing he has been able to get press on was the poor decision to hire Amanda Marcotte. He’s not exactly a juggernaut.

While I respect Edwards for putting his family first, I’m doubtful that this was the whole reason for his decision.

UPDATE: Well, at the risk of being completely cynical, it’s even worse than I thought. The whole purpose of the press conference seems to have been “Hey, look at us. My wife is sick and I’m running for President.”

I’m not sure exactly why we should care about the fact that a) Elizabeth is sick, but treatable, and b) it’s not going to have an impact on his campaign. I hope to God this doesn’t start a trend where POTUS candidates call a press conference to get attention any time their spouse sneezes.

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