Here is Senator Edwards announcement from today.
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Also, there is this message on the Edwards Campaing Blog that, at least for those of us who have fought so hard to get the media to pay attention to the cause of economic justice, and hope for the end of poverty in America, resonates with what many of us plan to do on Tuesday.
VOTE FOR JOHN EDWARDS ON SUPER TUESDAY
If you believe in the Edwards message, vote for John Edwards on Super Tuesday anyway – and beyond. Continue to vote for him ,and to support his policies to the convention. IT will hold Hillary’s and Obama’s feet to the fire and force them to realize, those who supported Edwards did so for a reason.
John & Elizabeth, you guys take a rest. We will take it from here. Just don’t wander too far away, you may get a very important call from the convention!
Never give up, never give up, never give up.
Some have suggested that a vote for John Edwards on Super Tuesday is a wasted vote, or a vote for Hillary, or a vote for Obama…
Sorry, but I strongly disagree!
A presidential primary is about allowing the voters to select the candidate they want to represent the party in the quest for the Presidency of the United States of America. That IS the principle and purpose of the primary process.
The primary process is about picking the candidate that we as individuals agree with most. It is not about picking between the lesser of two bad choices, or even the best of two good choices that have been selected for us by the media.
We decide, we pick who we want. So long as the candidate I agree with the most is on the ballot, I will vote my conscience and vote for them. If someone else gets the nomination because I chose the one I liked best, so be it. That simply means that the majority of people chose someone else. If a candidate cannot win outright on their own merits, I do not see the purpose in throwing my vote to them because I like the other top choice less. If no one has the majority delegates before the convention, then the delegates have to make the selection at the convention.
My vote is not for sale to the lowest bidder or the lowest common denominator. Voting for the candidate of my choice, be that Kucinich, Edwards, Biden, Richardson, Dodd, Gravel, Clinton, or Obama, is not a wasted vote. It is my vote, and that is the principle and purpose of an election.
As I said earlier today, I’m still voting for Edwards.  If Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are to be the Democartic Party nominee, they are going to have to get there without my vote on Tuesday.
Chris,
I like your insightful viewpoints on many topics. Edwards is a good guy but you are holding on too hard. The writing was on the wall after Iowa and especially when New Hampshire and Nevada went the other way.
It seems that if you and Heaher write long posts you feel you can justify to continue to tilt at windmills. Don’t waste your vote.
Following are statements from two democratic candidates still in the race.
Barack Obama’s statement:
John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters – the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington. John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this – that two Americas can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America.
Hillary Clinton’s statement:
John Edwards ended his campaign today in the same way he started it – by standing with the people who are too often left behind and nearly always left out of our national debate.
John ran with compassion and conviction and lifted this campaign with his deep concern for the daily lives of the American people. That is what this election is about – it’s about our people. And John is one of the greatest champions the American people could ask for.
I wish John and Elizabeth all the best. They have my great personal respect and gratitude. And I know they will continue to fight passionately for the country and the people they love so deeply.
Sorry, my mind is made up. It’s Edwards or nothing.
I’d like to think this way, but Obama is a great candidate also. Hillary can’t win and she shouldn’t.
Edwards didn’t have to bow out until February 5th, he should have went all the way to Convention, played Kingmaker with his delegates, and done Obama/Edwards, or even better, Edwards/Obama.
I would take this view if every other candidate was like Hillary. That isn’t the case so I’m going to vote for Obama!
It’s hard to let Edwards go. But I will vote for Obama, because, like Edwards, he will work for change. In this situation, my fondest hope is that Obama will give Edwards an important role in his administration.
I am in mourning. My friends and family have been sending me sympathy emails.
There is a theory that Edwards got out to avoid a brokered convention.
I will not challenge someone who wants to vote heart or convictions my souse threw his vote away by mailing his VBM early.
If you want to vote strategic you should line up behind one or the other. I am voting Obama!
No, I write long posts because I have a lot to say. I don’t really see how this can be seen as a negative in a time of soundbites and 30 second commercials.