It's the morning after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. It now seems pretty clear to everyone that Barack Obama is going to be the Democratic nominee for President. The question now is -- what can we do to ensure that he defeats John McCain in November. And not only defeats McCain, but defeats him decisively.

We need more than a Democratic victory in November -- we need a landslide. We need huge Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. We can only achieve that if we have the kind of unbeatable team at the top that unites the party and the nation.

It's obvious that Hillary Clinton is not going to be Obama's running mate. Obama has to choose from among many outstanding Democrats, including some who ran against him in the early primaries, to find a great Vice Presidential choice. But one man stands head and shoulders above all the others as the obvious choice: John Edwards.

A spectre is haunting American politics -- the spectre of John Edwards.  A week after "suspending" his campaign, the former North Carolina Senator received over 380,000 votes in super Tuesday primaries.

Many states still listed Edwards on the ballot -- as well as the names of other candidates who had withdrawn.  In some states, absentee ballots were counted, including those were submitted before Edwards withdrew from the race.

In Oklahoma, Edwards came within a few thousand votes of crossing the 15% threshold, which would have earned him another half dozen delegates (in addition to the 26 he won in earlier primaries).

"I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." - Otter, "Animal House" (1978)

I am about to propose something which is certainly futile and maybe stupid too.

I've been talking in recent days to people who, like me, supported the candidacy of John Edwards.

I've found that most of us are in a bind: we don't really have a clear preference for one or the other Democratic candidate.

Further on some points I raised in my posting earlier today, I've created my first video ad for John Edwards.  It's here:

http://www.ericlee.info/2008/01/winners_ dont_quit.html

"He doesn't know it's a damn show! He thinks it's a damn fight!" - Apollo Creed's trainer, "Rocky" (1976)

For once the pundits and the pollsters seem to have gotten it right.  South Carolina was a big win for Obama; Clinton did take second place; and Edwards got nearly precisely the numbers predicted for him in the last Zogby/CNN poll.  They can now calmly return to doing what they were doing before, confident that what they say is true and that everyone is doing what they have been scripted to do.

Except that John Edwards is not doing what he is supposed to do.  He doesn't know it's a damn show.  He thinks it's a damn fight.