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Hmm... I'm not as educated about this whole thing as I should be... I was in full support of Edwards, personally... but I'll try to answer a few thinngs...
1, the money thing. Let's face it, Edwards wasn't even in the millions before he dropped out, and even though Kerry has not reached where Bush is at in terms of fundraising, once all of the Democratic support swings his way, he will (hopefully) be competitive.
2, Edwards, for whatever reason, did not have the name recognition that Kerry and Dean had, outside of the south. I really don't know how bad it was, because I'm from South Carolina and have known about Edwards way before the campaign started, but apparently from what I can gather from the news, he was some little unknown from the Carolinas.
3, Kerry, as much as republicans probably don't want to admit it, DOES sound the most intelligent. I mean, I love Edwards, and I hope he'll run for VP, but the problem is that people in the north still have this misconception that even though someone has a southern accent, they are stupid. I think this crosses people's minds without them thinking about it. Not that it's completely unfounded, seeing as how South Carolina is number 50 in education, but that's beside the point. Edwards is intelligent, but some people may not be able to get past his accent. And, let's face it, Bush hasn't said the most intelligent things in the world during his presidency. Aaah... remember the glory days of Clinton? That man could SPEAK so that the world was listening. Come to think of it, he had a southern accent too, didn't he???
4, Economics. I'm not trying to make a huge debate over this, and I know that this isn't specifically Kerry, but most people believe that democrats are better economically. I mean, besides Republicans. But, under Bush, the economy has declined. I know what you're going to say, "The economy works in a 4 year cycle." Well, I have opinions about that of my own, which maybe one day I will discuss (ironically I'm currently skipping my economics class). Anyway, the common conception (whether you believe it's true or not) is that democrats are better economically... at least, the economy thrived under Clinton, near failed under Bush (BTW... have y'all noticed an improvement in the Dow and NYSE?)
5, Dean. Dean was favored to win (remember way before the election) but said some dumb things. And, let's face it, it's always been between Kerry, Dean, and Edwards. I'm not completely sure why... publicity, I guess. But yeah, you know all of this.
I think that so many American's (*cough* Democrats) were already frustrated when Gore got the popular vote and still didn't win... Then, the fact that Bush happened to be the president during 9/11 (who knows if it was his fault??? I sure don't!) And THEN, the fact that our economy has suffered greatly the past couple of years... probably because of 9/11, but who really knows there, either... If someone did know, I would hope they would do something to fix it. Point being, Bush has a lot of strikes against him. I don't KNOW why Kerry is viewed as the best person for the job. Charisma?? Height????? Who knows? The fact of the matter is, he obviously was favored by Democrats all over the US, so hopefully (or not, if you like W) the ones who voted for him were right.
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DG
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