I’ve been encouraging people (see earlier post) to keep an eye on Salon’s Walter Shapiro who has been closely following the Edwards campaign. He’s noticed the candidate’s appetite for political risk has changed. Says Shapiro: “since Elizabeth’s heartbreaking diagnosis, this is truly the nothing-left-to-lose campaign. Whatever his ultimate political fate, John Edwards is unlikely this time to end up with regrets about being too timorous a candidate in the race of his life.”
Asked by Shapiro why things had changed Edwards pointed to the deterioration of everything from the Iraq war to the “dysfunctional” health care system. Watch out–this may be the campaign that shakes things up a little. Edwards’ credibility in health care is growing and drawing crowds in Iowa. Since he’s just put some meat on the bones of his universal health care proposal, there’s something for voters to chew on as well.
