What would Edwards do next?

I was surprised to hear that Amanda was hired for the Edwards campaign. She seemed way too edgy for his middle-of-the-road charismatic schtick. "Who knows, maybe he's the only candidate who could hire them," I thought to myself, "kind of like how only Nixon would have gone to China..."

Now, as predictably as the day is long, the hysterical right wing machine cranked into motion. The Edwards campaign is inexplicably caught off-balance. Are they fired or not fired? The story's made it to the NY Times. It's the top item at Memeorandum. But at John Edwards HQ? There ain't no news.

Now had they hired Amanda and Shakes as some kind of strategic move the response would have been rapid-fire -- they would have prepared something along these lines and slung it right in the face of the Malkin mob. It would have been brilliant and gone a long way to combat the double standard we see in how far out of the mainstream supporters of the two political parties are allowed to be.

But there have been no rapid fire response. Instead, the campaign is twisting in the wind.

I used to put Edwards ahead of the pack when it comes to my choice for 2008.

He is no longer at the head of the pack.

Is he about to get completely left in the dust? It depends on what he does next.