all attempts at rational discourse out there today are in vain.

[ginnyinWI]

I tried it and it only provoked more emotions. Edwards people are in grief and shock today. Better let them alone for a while and talk later.

[marlakay]

1. I keep saying to give people time

and space. They feel sucker punched. When I realized gore wasn't running I felt sick and hated all politics and stayed off blogs for weeks and turned off news.

Its even harder for these people because a lot people are suppose to vote in the next few weeks and feel forced to choose something they don't believe in.

Some will stay home because of that but by Nov most will vote dem that is the important thing.

I changed to Obama about a month ago because of my 25 yr old daughter and now I talked my 80 yr old mom into voting for him instead of Clinton...what was the final thing? Sweet Caroline Kennedy...it does make a difference folks. and mom is in CA..

[YvonneCa]

3. That did it for my mom...

...too. She's 79. :)

[ginnyinWI]

5. ah the memories of Camelot

:) I wish my mom would vote for Obama, too. She always votes Repub--but I know she secretly loves the Kennedys and just won't admit it.

[karynnj]

2. I agree - I don't get how some people are attacking them at this point in time

It's pathetic. All of us have given our hearts to campaigns that didn't quite make it - and the more intensely committed the harder to accept. Many Edwards people have believed in him since 2005 or before. Although it has been clear for a while that it was unlikely, even yesterday some had scenarios where he won.

I suspect in some ways it is harder for them also because unlike Kerry, Dodd, Biden, Kuchinich, and Richardson who all had positions of power that they could keep - Edwards' future is uncharted. The comment that Elizabeth Edwards was quoted as saying was that they went through 2004 leaving no mark on things, but this time he did leave a mark seems to be one thing that they may hold on to. Though many of us pointed out that Democrats have almost always had an agenda that deals with poverty, Edwards may have woken up some people still in the middle class that the middle class is shrinking. For some now hurt or angry, that may end up being solace to them - that they were part of making that an issue.

Later, not targeting Edwards people profiling the activist work Obama did on the Southside of Chicago may interest some of them. They may see in Obama some of what they liked in Edwards, though he may remain first in their hearts for a long time.

[sandnsea]

8. Democrats deal with welfare poverty

Which actually leaves people IN poverty. Then there's the just above poverty working people, who get no real help with govt programs and not much help with any of the tax cuts/credits. Add to that the astronomical cost of living where even social security checks are starkly insufficient, ridiculously out of balance. So when people say Edwards dealt with poverty, they mean he told the story of regular people, the below the 50% median line, normal people who always struggle. Democrats tend to treat poverty as something people fall into and then get out of in a few months. But even when you go back to work, lower income people are still lower income. I think Edwards supporters felt he understood that in a way the typical Democrat didn't.

[karynnj]

9. Obama spent 3 years on the South side of Chicago

I seriously doubt he saw poverty as something that you get out of in a few months. I seriously doubt that Kennedy things of it that way either.

[rox63]

4. Edwards supporters need time and space to process what's happened

I think they will eventually find themselves ready once again to believe in a candidate. And I hope that candidate is Obama. But pushing them right now is a bad idea. Let them grieve for a little while. I think we've all been where they are right now at some point.

[ginnyinWI]

6. yeah.

I wasn't trying to push, but was only sympathizing and saying maybe they would be able to trust someone who Edwards would eventually endorse. But they weren't ready to hear even that.

Karynnj is right: Edwards doesn't have a clear future. He wants to help New Orleans; there is certainly a lot of work to do there. Who knows, maybe he'd even have a political future there or in some other state in need. There are plenty of poverty stricken areas, Lord knows.

[Cant trust em]

7. I felt like today has been better

My unscientific survey shows that I've had less Obama hate than I've seen in the last week or so. I thought Edwards people were a little down in the dumps and retreated instead of lashing out. Maybe I'm wrong.