Patterico's Pontifications

1/26/2008

Robert Novak: President Obama and AG John Edwards

Filed under: 2008 Election — DRJ @ 11:11 am



[Guest post by DRJ]

Robert Novak reports President Barack Obama would offer the Attorney General’s post to John Edwards:

“Illinois Democrats close to Sen. Barack Obama are quietly passing the word that John Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration.

Installation at the Justice Department of multimillionaire trial lawyer Edwards would please not only the union leaders supporting him for president but organized labor in general. The unions relish the prospect of an unequivocal labor partisan as the nation’s top legal officer.

In public debates, Obama and Edwards often seem to bond together in alliance against front-running Sen. Hillary Clinton. While running a poor third, Edwards could collect a substantial bag of delegates under the Democratic Party’s proportional representation. Edwards then could try to turn his delegates over to Obama in the still unlikely event of a deadlocked Democratic National Convention.”

I guess this means Hillary won’t be picking John Edwards as her running mate.

— DRJ

10 Responses to “Robert Novak: President Obama and AG John Edwards”

  1. DRJ-
    Maintaining the theme of your earlier post, a good subtitle for this one would be: “The Cuddly AG.”

    driver (faae10) — 1/26/2008 @ 11:13 am

  2. Larry Sabato had the Edwards/AG story a month ago. Novak likes to think he breaks everything. You don’t just turn over a bag of delegates at the convention.

    steve (187be6) — 1/26/2008 @ 12:03 pm

  3. I’m actually relieved to hear that, Steve. I have more faith in Sabato’s reports than Novak’s. In any event, while it’s not the affirmative AG prediction that Novak makes, here’s what I found at Sabato’s website for January 24, 2008:

    “What of John Edwards? It is evident to all that he will not be the Democratic nominee for President. Really, how could the Democrats, the party of diversity, nominate a white male when the other major candidates were a woman, an African-American, and a Hispanic? After South Carolina, the state of his birth, Edwards will have three choices: (1) Stay in through the primaries, collect delegates under the party’s proportional rules, and hope that the Clinton/Obama split is so close that his delegates can make Edwards the kingmaker, with a payoff of the post of Attorney General or another vice-presidential nomination; (2) Drop out before or after February 5th, and endorse one of the candidates (surely Obama, given what Edwards has said during the campaign); or (3) Drop out and save his nod for later.”

    DRJ (517d26) — 1/26/2008 @ 12:44 pm

  4. Sabato mentioned the rumor last month on an MSNBC panel.

    steve (187be6) — 1/26/2008 @ 12:48 pm

  5. Steve,

    I’m sorry if it sounded like I doubted your comment about Sabato. I was trying to amplify on your point by bringing in what I could find.

    DRJ (517d26) — 1/26/2008 @ 12:58 pm

  6. This would possibly be the most political AG appointment since John Mitchell, and the most devestating to law enforcement since Robert Kennedy.

    Another Drew (8018ee) — 1/26/2008 @ 5:58 pm

  7. Having a trial lawyer as AG would be about the worse of em all the demcrats support trial lawyers

    krazy kagu (520f84) — 1/26/2008 @ 9:11 pm

  8. One more reason not to hold the Gang of Fourteen deal not to break filibusters of Presidential appointees against McCain.

    nk (eeb240) — 1/26/2008 @ 9:14 pm

  9. Isn’t it illegal to make an offer like that?

    veritas (10781f) — 1/27/2008 @ 12:18 pm

  10. And, it will be my exit point from DOJ.

    I suspect there would be a mass exodus from DOJ if someone as nakedly political — and unqualified — as John Edwards were named to be AG.

    wls (df8ae6) — 1/27/2008 @ 1:11 pm


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