Those of us who back John Edwards have been angry and frustrated with the MSM over its inability to get past the "glamor" of the Hillary-Barack story line in the Democratic primaries, to take a look at actual positions. John just hasn't been able to get any space on the pages of newspapers or airtime in news programs across the country. (Except for Keith - thank you, Mr. Olbermann!)
And the hurdle is not just in our minds:
An ongoing study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism placed Edwards a distant sixth among Democratic and Republican candidates in volume of campaign coverage last week; the former senator from North Carolina was a main newsmaker or significant presence in just 6 percent of campaign stories. Obama and Clinton? Almost five times the amount of coverage.
This quote comes from the Washington Post, which today finally decided - sort of - to try to balance the accounts a little bit. Here's the article.
Even better, there is a summary of John's strategy:
His advisers paint this optimistic scenario: Emerge out of Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 with 250 to 300 delegates, including the approximately 85 they count now. Hope that Obama and Clinton continue to split states, and that one of them fades in stature. Hope that the muddled GOP contest clears up quickly. And if the nominee is John McCain, for instance, Edwards's stock will rise as the Dems' best general election candidate. Arrive at the Democratic National Convention with 400 of the needed 2,025 delegates and see what happens.
I don't consider that an "optimistic" strategy, but a realistic one. The way this campaign has been going, he's concentrating on still being on his feet at the convention, where this year it appears that anything could happen.
There are lots of good bits in the story, including a discussion of John's "rural strategy," the same strategy that helped Mark Warner and Jim Webb in Virginia. Read it for yourselves and see what you think.