Howard Dean is pretty much done after his third place finish here in Wisconsin and now has to decide what to do next. I don't think Dean is going to endorse anyone, but will withdraw from the race and work to get Democrats elected in general. He might even pull a Kos and use his great popularity with his supporters to raise money to support Democrats running for Congress, as he did earlier in Iowa during the campaign. That would be a classy thing for him to do that would keep him a player on the sidelines. Call him a tougher, rougher Jimmy Carter if you like... ;-)
Anyway, all John Edwards needs is for Dean to drop out. A Dean endorsement would only raise expectations for him on Super Tuesday, and besides we've all seen how feeble endorsements of candidates have been this year. (With the exception of newspaper endorsements, some of which have clearly helped Edwards.) Edwards' strategy all along has been to outlast the other candidates until he can get a one-on-one shot against John Kerry, and he'll get enough free media and money to have that shot now that he's the #1 challenger.
Kerry won't be happy about having to spend more money before Super Tuesday to compete with Edwards, but as his little rest last week allowed Edwards to gain ground in Wisconsin, he's going to have to. If both candidates don't get carried away though in terms of spending, the free media their continued contest will generate benefits the Democrats in general as both will spend more time beating up on Bush than on each other. The Democratic Party owes Edwards a thank you for keeping the tone of the campaign positive.
Finally, it was nice last night to have a bit of a nail-biter instead of a yawner watching the returns. Thanks to Wisconsin for making the race exciting again! It's fun to live in a state that's as politically weird as Wisconsin is. It must be the cheese...