John Edwards Surging in New Hampshire

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are very fine presidential hopefuls but the media should remember that we have a wide open race. Clinton and Obama may be grabbing the headlines but Edwards has been working hard to build his numbers vote by vote. Here's the latest numbers from the Boston Globe:

A WMUR/CNN poll released this afternoon shows Edwards shooting into second place ahead of Illinois Senator Barack Obama, though within the margin of error.

The poll, conducted by the University of New Hampshire, showed support for New York Senator Hillary Clinton dropping eight percentage points from two months ago, to 27 percent. Edwards is at 21 percent and Obama at 20 percent. Former Vice President Al Gore, who is not a candidate, received 11 percent. All other Democrats running were in the single digits.

I would not be surprised if Edwards is getting a sympathy vote because of Elizabeth Edwards' recurrence of cancer but it would be a mistake to underestimate Edwards' nuts and bolts campaign that is geared to changing the business-as-usual way of doing politics in Washington.

The St. Petersburg Times carries an AP story on Elizabeth Edwards that does remind us, after all, of the quality of John and Elizabeth Edwards:

Elizabeth Edwards wants to be clear: She made the choice to stick with her husband's campaign for president after learning her cancer was back.

"I think that people who are critical like to think that John dragged me kicking and fighting the whole way, that I'm somehow disappointed in this. I'm not disappointed in this," she said.

Speaking to reporters after her husband's town hall meeting at Concord High School on Monday, she said that at decision time she went first.

"He let me make it first, I think, because he wanted to make certain it was mine and I wasn't just deferring to him," she said. "This is what I wanted to do."

As for criticism of their decision: "I don't worry for me because we've got tough skin. And, honestly, having been through the death of a child, it's just words. You want to hurt us, you're going to have to do a little better than that."

John Edwards may not win the nomination but he and his wife are showing us courage, strength and integrity. Given what we've seen for the last six years, those aren't bad qualities to have in a presidential candidate. John Edwards is clearly having an impact. I hope Edwards' numbers continue to climb: it would give the other candidates something to think about.