POLITICS AND NATURE

John Edwards is gone and Rudy Giuliani is close behind, having lost the one state he worked at getting elected in, Florida, Rudy will head back into a very lucrative business and he will have no need to concern himself with the rest of America anymore. It seemed like he found the whole thing tedious. It makes me wonder if the entire charade was an excuse to hang out in Florida for a few months while getting other people to pay for the tremendous expense of it all. Rudy looked tan and relaxed last night when admitting his horrible defeat and he just didn't look like he could have cared less. I imagine he's had a great time down there, avoiding the cold weather of Iowa and New Hampshire and skipping South Carolina, where it is unlikely anyone would have voted for him. Edwards, on the other hand, gave it his all. He was, in fact, running for president since he and John Kerry lost four years ago to a mean group of hired guns headed by Karl Rove. But John has now left the scene and the pundits are wailing over who will win and how many points each one is up and what possibilities can happen. They're like a group of addicted gamblers spending too long at the track. They have lost their edge and their heads are spinning, not knowing what may happen next.

Hillary still has an advantage just because of name recognition on the Democratic side, but Barack Obama proved his campaign could pass muster in Iowa and South Carolina. It is just so big now. 22 states voting on Feb 5. Can he pull it off? No one can know until six days are history. It could very well be 6 days that changed the world.

On the Republican side, the race narrows between Mitt and John McCain. McCain has become the endless warrior, promising to keep the troops in Iraq until the deal is done, which won't be for fifty years or so. He refuses to even consider looking for ways to end the conflict. What is it to win? Don't ask stupid questions, just give unfailing support for all war and whatever John thinks will be done. Mitt will try to focus on the economy and he will work hard to show he is the one with the experience and the track record to pull us out of the doldrums. It's just that no one seems to like Mitt Romney. Still, he won another "silver" in Florida and he seemed pretty pleased with himself. He's got to be getting a little bit nervous though, he won Wyoming, Michigan, and Nevada, two of which nobody contested his candidacy and he was born in Michigan. He lost in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, and now Florida, and this guy has spent a ton of money. He won't take no for an answer. He won't be happy, as Rudy was, to hang out in the sunshine state for a couple months and walk away with nothing. Mitt has something to prove and he plans to succeed where his old man failed.