In

During the 2004 elections, I was real surprised that a mainstream, establishment politician like John Edwards took such a strong tone about the gap between the poor and the rich. Of course, when he accepted Kerry's offer to be the VP on the ticket, strategists made him tone down and abandon the whole "Two Americas" bit. Too divisive, it seemed, and the Democrats were on overdrive about being patriotic centrists. Um, ya, that didnt work out so well.

This time around, Edwards is the only candidate directly talking about class politics.

For this and other reasons (his perfect and toothy Crest smile, his terrific hair, his honesty about the role of personal values not getting in the way of implementing fair public policy because that's a hallmark of leadership- and on this point, Im thinking about his stance on same sex marriage), Im glad he's still in the race and hope his wife gets better.