John Edwards' declining campaign

With the announcement that the Edwards campaign is pulling its operatives out of Nevada, people are starting to pay attention to the decline of the former vice presidential nominee's effortts to get the nomination. Reid Wilson points out the weaknesses that are cropping up more often now in the Edwards efforts. He has focused all his efforts on winning in Iowa and using that as a springboard to the other states. However, with the prospect of Iowa and New Hampshire running their votes on consecutive days the power of an Iowa slingshot to victory seems more remote.

And the Edwards campaign is showing some of that desperation with their negative attacks on his competitors in the Democratic race. With multiple candidates in the race, the general rule is that when candidate X attacks candidate Y, candidate Z is the one who reaps the benefit. Edwards was wise enough in 2004 to recognize that Iowans just don't like the negative campaigning and based part of his appeal on his positive approach. But, a sinking campaign often demonstrates itself in attacks. And, at this point in the campaign, Edwards is starting a slide that, if he can't change course, is just going to lead to his having to return to North Carolina and private life.

UPDATE: Another day, another exposure of John Edwards hypocrisy. The Wall Street Journal has a story today of how, despite his attacks on subprime lendors, has invested in a company foreclosing on victims of Katrina.

The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through 2006.

Since the Journal pointed this out to Edwards, he's pledged his own money to help out those in Louisiana who lost their houses due to Fortress.

The Wall Street Journal has identified 34 New Orleans homes whose owners have faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Mr. Edwards has about $16 million invested in Fortress funds, according to a campaign aide who confirmed a more general Federal Election Commission report. Mr. Edwards worked for Fortress, a publicly held private-equity fund, from late 2005 through 2006.

Remember, Fortress Investment Group was the company where Edwards went to work in order to learn more about such investment companies and the poor. Well, it doesn't seem that he learned all that much while he was there.

The candidate has said he had no involvement in Fortress units' subprime lending when he worked for the private-equity firm and wasn't aware of it at the time. He has said his job at Fortress was to provide information about what he saw happening economically in the U.S. and overseas. He has also said he was there "primarily to learn" about finance.

In the interview yesterday, Mr. Edwards said that when he first joined Fortress, "I made clear that I didn't want to have anything I was investing in to be antilabor or involved in predatory lending practices." But he added that he didn't fully understand the firm's complex operations, saying: "They're diverse. They're very diverse."

I still think that there is something suspect about this nothingburger of a job that Edwards had there at Fortress. He earned close to half a million dollars for a 15-month stint working at Fortress to study the relationship of capital and poverty, but seemed to miss the whole involvement of his employer with subprime lending. If you or I wanted to study poverty and capital, we'd probably have to go to a university and do some research. Giving a job for someone to do some study while on the job just doesn't rate a six-figure salary for anyone besides a potential presidential candidate. It seems yet another way to get around the campaign finance laws.