In 1968 I supported Bobby Kennedy for the Democratic Presidential Nomination. Many others active in the anti-war movement supported Eugene McCarthy for the nomination. None of us really cared very much about the fact that both Kennedy and McCarthy had been early supporters of the war in Vietnam. In 1964 McCarthy had actually voted for the infamous "Gulf of Tonkin resolution " that Lyndon Johnson had used in lieu of an actual authorization for the war and Bobby Kennedy had been spared the vote because he was not yet in the Senate.
One of my good friends has recently posited the argument that Barack Obama will be more "electable" in a general election then John Edwards because Obama did not vote for the Iraq War authorization and gave that lovely speech in advance of the war opposing the impending invasion. Obama himself and many of his supporters seemed to still think that he is entitled to the Democratic nomination (and likely to win) because he was right on the war at the specific point in history when all of the other now Democrats running for President (except for Kucinich) were wrong. I think they are all missing something that is fairly obvious. It's a practical matter.
When the Bush administration first started showing it's intent to use 9-11 as an excuse to invade Iraq I immediately and vehemently opposed it. I was outraged by those Senators like Kerry, Clinton and John Edwards who voted for the Iraq War Authorization. Yet the thing to remember is that the vast majority of the country supported the war in the beginning. Yet I do not think it is going to be a very effective campaign image to be telling the vast majority of the country that they were all were wrong and I was smarter then them.
Actually I think it works better to say "I made the same mistake that you made, and like you I have learned from that mistake and will be a better President because of the lessons I learned. But my Republican opponent he is one of the small number in our country who still hasn't realized that we all made the mistake and who therefore is doomed to repeat the mistake." Or put it another way, if the Republican tries to attack John Edwards for having changed his mind on Iraq he will be attacking almost 70 percent of the country who have also changed their minds. Edwards can simply turn around and say "we" (him and the American People) "learned from our mistake why didn't you."
The empirical data shows very clearly that John Edwards would be a stronger general election candidate then Barack Obama and most importantly that Edwards is much stronger in the states that the Democrats will need to win (Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Virginia).
I think that the fact that Edwards made the same mistake as the vast majority of the American People (in initially supporting the war) and now has come to the same position as the vast majority of the American People (opposing the war) combined with his forthright admission that he was wrong on his initial vote will actually help Edwards immensely come election day.