[Update]: Based on the comments below, there are at least three of us who got our Edwards swag late, and another who hasn't gotten it at all. Anyone else?
I was an early Edwards supporter. Not really early, since I wasn't so big on him in 2004; I was a Dean guy as far back as spring 2003. But I picked Edwards in winter 2007 and gave him money and my support. I thought, and still think, he was the best choice for President by a wide margin because of his focus on the issues that matter to me. I felt, and still feel, that Hillary and Obama would be nowhere near as progressive as they are without Edwards in the race.
But he never took hold. We Edwards folks all complained about the media brownout, the unfair attacks on his hair, the bigoted "Breck Girl" cracks, and the near-plagiarism of his position papers by the other campaigns that made it impossible to differentiate himself. We felt that he hadn't been given a chance, and that it was unfair.
But on Thursday I realized that, for all the crap dribbled on him, the real flaw was in his own campaign. The evidence was right there for anyone driving by my house to see.
Back in early January I ordered a few Edwards signs for my own and some friends' front yard and some stickers and shirts to get ready for the February 5 primary. I bought some bumper stickers and, I think, a t-shirt or two. I wanted to be sure that folks around here saw the Edwards banner all over the place and knew that there was support for him in Hillaryland.
I never got them.
Until Thursday. I got home from work and saw a thin rectangular box leaning on my porch. It confused me, because we are fricking broke and I hadn't ordered anything for a while. Then I got up close and saw it was from the Edwards campaign. I got the mail from the mailbox and walked past the package, laughing ruefully.
Then yesterday when I got home from work I checked the mail and there was a letter from the Edwards08 campaign waiting for me. I thought maybe it was a check reimbursing me for getting the signs to me two months late, but it was a letter that started out like this:
Dear friends,
It's been a whirlwind since last Wednesday, when we made the ery difficult and emotional decision to suspend the campaign for the presidency.
Last Wednesday was February 27th, four weeks to the day from when Edwards suspended his campaign.
The signs came two months late, the letter came a month late.
And I had my evidence that the campaign missed that attention to detail, volunteer support and speed that is necessary to win a political race.
Obama has it in excess, though it's been missing a little over the past week. Clinton has it too, though it seems to ebb and flow based on the influence of that idiot Mark Penn.
But I think the Edwards people never seemed to gain traction anywhere is largely because they couldn't get all four tires going at the same time, moving in the same direction or even on the right axles.
And the evidence is sitting on my porch, still. I can't bring myself to open it.