WILL THEY REPLACE CRONYISM WITH PHONYISM?

This should be a friendly place for John Edwards. It is in the Low Country of South Carolina, the state where he was born and a place where his message about haves and have-nots should have great reach. Logic suggests this would be John Edwards' moment.
The nation may be sliding into recession. Tens of millions struggle without health-care insurance, while many others are under insured. Jobs continue fleeing to cheaper foreign markets. This is the place his message, as convoluted as it is, will play out.

John Edwards, a third place finisher in everything (he virtually tied with Clinton in Iowa), tried to align himself with Obama-mania in order to create an "us vs. her" movement, and define himself as an equal "agent of change" as Barack, which landed with a thud in New Hampshire.

He tried to define himself as the great crusader against the evils of corporate America, thinking he could transform his previous career as an ambulance chaser into some sort of position of nobility. He attempts to lead his campaign's charge with a grittiness and scrappy-ness he thought would play out as opposed to Barack's lethargy (and endless preacher rhetoric) and Clinton's Washington insider persona. He is the outsider, having been unemployed as of late.

Yet this I-told-you-so-four-years-ago moment finds the former North Carolina Democratic senator on the ropes and eclipsed by the forces of celebrity and history, in the form of presidential campaigns from Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It's almost as if he's a prophet ignored in his homeland. This could be Edwards' last call, at least the polls seem to indicate it will be, as he is currently running a dismal third place in SC, and a distant third as well.

My prediction? If John Edwards does not win,

and win decisively (8 to 10%), he is absolute roadkill.

Whether he will drop out when this fails to materialize, the smart money says no. John Edwards is all about John Edwards. His hanging on to the real "Audacity of Hope", namely his election would be a distraction as the nation tries to determine which horse to ride. Certainly, neither of the top two Democratic candidates needs a third candidate slinging mud on them as they consider their electability in a national election. John Edwards is a dirty player in elections, and when he sees the light in the tunnel, there is no telling what negative ads he might post.