Inside Politics

Running left

“It wasn’t very long ago that I wrote in this space that, in the argument as to whether the Democratic contest for president is a two-person or a three-person race, I was a member of the ‘John Edwards is in the Democratic top tier’ camp,” Stuart Rothenberg says in Roll Call.

“I argued his strength in Iowa, clear message and personal appeal make the former North Carolina senator a serious contender for the Democratic nomination, though not quite the equal of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) in the Democratic sweepstakes,” Mr. Rothenberg said.

“I see no reason to change that view, but I’ll admit I’m scratching my head more often at Edwards’ seemingly insatiable desire to run to the left — far to the left — of everyone in the Democratic race with the possible exception of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio).

“Increasingly, political observers are whispering that Edwards seems to be running much as former Rep. Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) did in 2004, wooing organized labor and recycling a class-warfare message. Of course, I’m not suggesting that Edwards’ message is entirely new — in the previous cycle, his ‘two Americas’ theme addressed issues of class and race as well — only that, of the credible candidates, Edwards has filled the ‘Gephardt slot’ in the current race.

“While almost everyone has nice things to say about the former Missouri lawmaker personally, and Gephardt has his share of loyalists, he finished a disappointing fourth in Iowa last time, something Edwards presumably hopes to avoid.”

False presumption

“Television anchors must compress complicated subjects into simple sentences, but on Friday night NBC’s Brian Williams delivered too simple of a presumption when he set up a story, on Rudy Giuliani’s latest attempt to explain his abortion position, by trying to paint Republicans as out of the mainstream as he asserted that ‘most Americans believe a woman has a right to an abortion. Most Republicans do not.’ ” the Media Research Center’s Brent Baker writes at www.mrc.org.

“While it’s true that most don’t want abortion completely banned under all circumstances, the majority favor restrictions on such a ‘right,’ and only 16 percent, according to a February Washington Post poll, want it ‘legal in all cases.’ And interestingly, the latest abortion poll on the PollingReport.com’s abortion page, a May 4-6 survey by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, discovered that 50 percent identified themselves as ‘pro-life,’ compared to a minority of 45 percent who called themselves ‘pro-choice.’ NBC’s own late-April poll found that, by a fairly solid 53 to 34 percent, most agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the federal law banning ‘partial-birth’ abortions.”

Edging closer

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said yesterday there is a very good chance he’ll get into the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, but he won’t decide until after September.

“I think right now that it is a great possibility,” Mr. Gingrich said. “I don’t want to get into all this stuff. I want to focus on what we have to do to make America successful.”

Mr. Gingrich said he plans to hold a workshop on solutions facing the country in September, after which he’ll make a decision on whether to launch a presidential bid, the Associated Press reports.

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