Electable Edwards

The other day I called attention to an Iowa newspaper editorial endorsing John Edwards, and argued that they were correct to emphasize his electability in explaining their choice. If he's right on policy, and can beat the Republicans, what's not to love? Well it turns out this electability thing is not just the product of us Edwards supporters' fevered imaginations. CNN's polling director Keating Holland tells us:

On the Democratic side, Edwards performs best against each of the leading Republicans. In addition to beating Huckabee by 25 percent and McCain by 8 percent, the North Carolina Democrat beats Romney by 22 percentage points (59 percent to 37 percent).
While the survey shows McCain and Edwards performing best in their respective fields, both candidates continue to significantly trail their parties' front-runners significantly. In the national horse race numbers released Monday, McCain trails Giuliani by 11 percentage points, and Edwards is behind Clinton by 26 percentage points.
"Edwards is the only Democrat who beats all four Republicans, and McCain is the only Republican who beats any of the three Democrats," Holland said. "Some might argue this shows that they are the most electable candidates in their respective parties.
"But Edwards is in third place among Democrats, and McCain is in fourth place on the GOP side. Maybe electability is not as important as it was in 2004."
The poll, conducted between Thursday and Sunday, surveyed 912 registered voters. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage point.

Electability is more important now than ever! With the Rethugs likely to try every trick in the book (with Diebold's help)-- we need a candidate who will crush his opponent by large enough margins to make rigging the outcome very difficult, if not impossible. Edwards in 2008!