Edwards Hopes What Happened in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Sun, January 20, 2008 - 12:27 PM

So, those polls that showed John Edwards poised for a strong showing in Nevada? Whoops.

Edwards was trounced in Nevada, failing to pick up significant support from union members that largely split between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Earlier in the week, polls there showed Edwards locked into a tight, three-way race with the two front-runners.

He ended up with four percent. It appears that a quirk of the Nevada democratic caucus rules ended up making his showing there appear worse. In entrance polls – interviews with voters as they headed into caucus sites – about nine percent of voters said they would vote for Edwards.

After the first round of voting at the caucus sites, Nevada Democratic Party “viability” rules say that if a candidate did not get a certain amount of votes – the threshold varies – then that candidate’s supporters must abandon their candidate and join groups supporting another group – in this case, Clinton or Obama.

Still, even nine percent is worse than polls heading into Nevada predicted Edwards would do. Unless he pulls of a big upset in South Carolina on Saturday, it’s likely he will face more questions about his continuation in the race.

--Sean Mussenden