Reply #48: Skwmom, dear, the numbers don't lie. [View All]

[I_am_Spartacus]

Edwards polled at 5% all of 2003, while Dean and Clark were polling at and above 20% in December. If memory serves, just before practically every primary Edwards was between 4 and 10%, often in 4th place or lower.

Edwards ended up first or second in all but 16 states, and in second place with 19% of all votes cast. On the day he dropped out, his vote percentage was certainly higher than 19%. In other words, for every 1 person who liked Edwards during 2003, three more grew to like him by the time they voted in their primary (and that includes a lot of people who were voting after it was clear Kerry was going to be the nominee). Who else can you say that about?

Incidentally, if you look at states on and prior to March 2nd, you'll almost certainly find that in many cases Edwards was taking votes from Kerry as the primary neared.

So, I don't know who your friends are, but they don't have much in common with most voters and I'm not sure we should be trust that their wet fingers in the air can give us any valuable insights.