TRAIL MIX: McCain Leads While Giuliani And Edwards Are Dropping Out

By: Emily Vaughan What a morning. Rudy Giuliani is dropping out, and now we learn that John Edwards is exiting. John McCain looks like frontrunner, so Barack Obama, in tough Wednesday Denver speech (according to Time's The Page) about ?a choice between the past and the future,? plans to say: ?It?s time for new leadership that understands that the way to win a debate with John McCain is not by nominating someone who agreed with him on voting for the war in Iraq; who agreed with him in voting to give George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran. . . .?

John McCain won Florida, the first of the big state primaries, a feat no one would have guessed he'd accomplish last summer. Julie Epstein at washingtonpost.com's The Trail talks about the McCain camp's collapse, then resurgence in Florida:

"McCain's campaign did have paid staff here in the spring of 2007: They were laid off in May, when the senator's campaign appeared to be on the brink of collapse. They hired 'a handful' of people after McCain's Jan. 19 win in South Carolina, Handy said, but they mainly relied on an 'all-volunteer army' to propel their candidate to victory.

"To a large extent McCain relied on Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who boasts a formidable team. As soon as the governor endorsed McCain on Saturday night, according to the governor's spokeswoman Vivian Myrtetus, 'We flipped the switch on the Crist machine.'"

The Washington Post

But now that McCain has (maybe?) come out as the GOP frontrunner, pundits can start fantasizing about possible tickets for the November general election. Don Frederick at the L.A. Times Top of the Ticket started making these match ups and more:

"A possible 'fusion ticket' will continue to be bandied about, despite Joe Lieberman tossing cold water on it today. But as unpredictable as McCain can be, it's hard to imagine that even he would risk irretrievably alienating social conservatives by picking a pro-choice Democrat as his vice presidential candidate.

"McCain, if he decides to aggressively woo social conservatives, obviously would give Mike Huckabee a look. The pair have frequently exchanged kind words during debates, causing some pundits to view Huckabee as actively vying for the No. 2 spot."

The L.A. Times

Bill Clinton may be proving he's not such a liability after all. The former president managed to make it through an Ohio rally without causing any damage. Christopher Maag from The New York Times' The Caucus had this to say:

"Not only did he avoid any mention of Mr. Obama, Mr. Clinton never even alluded to any of the other presidential candidates besides Republican Senator John McCain, whom he said his wife likes and respects, despite their disagreements over policy.

"Mr. Clinton appeared relaxed and loose-limbed as he approached the podium. Though he did not appear outwardly chastened by criticism of his comments last week, Mr. Clinton did what many pundits thought he should, returning to the role of elder statesman and cheerleader husband."

The New York Times

Obama has been getting rid of the negativity surrounding his campaign too. The Illinois senator finally gave back the last of the Tony Rezko-tainted money. Mark Memmott at USA Today's On Politics had this to say:

"'Barack Obama on Tuesday night aimed to scrub Tony Rezko's taint off his political fund-raising machine, saying he's identified all remaining donations to his U.S. Senate campaign that are tied to the indicted businessman and is donating them to charity,' The Chicago Sun-Times writes.

"The newspaper says 'the latest dump of Rezko-related cash by the Democratic presidential contender is $72,650, bringing the total Obama is giving away to $157,835.'

"'By refunding these donations, the campaign has returned any and all funds that could be reasonably credited to Mr. Rezko's political support,' Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement."

USA Today

To the dismay of Clinton-haters everywhere, a third Clinton is flexing her political muscles. Chelsea, stumping for her mother at the University of Utah student union showed her natural speaking ability, says Joel Achenbach at washingtonpost.com's The Trail. Achenbach made this critique of the former first daughter's preformance:

"After all these years of being a silent figure on stage with her parents, Chelsea, 27, still doesn't seem to savor the spotlight. Nor does she go for the soaring flights of rhetoric. At first blush, she's more like her Mom than her Dad -- comfortable with the subtleties of policies, but remaining somewhat reserved.

"She didn't bring a prepared talk, but, after saying of her mother 'there's no one I love and respect more and believe in more,' went straight to questions from the audience, numbering about 200 or so (her father spoke in the same place a few months ago). She demonstrated fluency in her mother's positions on health care, Iraq, the mortgage crisis, on down the line."

The Washington Post

Just because John Edwards it out doesn't mean it's down to a two-person race on the left. The L.A. Times Scott Martelle on Top of the Ticket speculates Ralph Nader's return to presidential politics for the '08 race:

"As for Nader, the legendary comsumer advocate, has never been subtle about his disdain for the two major parties, seeing them as relatively inseparable and equally in thrall to the corporate interests that Nader has been fighting since the 1960s (which, coincidentally was the driving theme of Edwards' campaign).

It's hard to see a Nader campaign having much effect if Obama wins the Democratic nomination. Given the progressives' uncertainty over Clinton and her centrist policies, Nader might have a little more influence if she is the nominee, though lingering anger over the 2000 election made his campaign an irrelevancy in 2004."

The L.A. Times