WI Edwards had won the primaries

If Edwards had done much better and looked like being the nominee would the revelations about his affair have derailed his campaign?
 
Yes, particularly if he "won" over his main rivals by only a small amount. The only real reason for supporting Edwards was his supposedly better "electability" in comparison with Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. The affair blows that away and all you are left with then is a greasy trial lawyer from the south.
 
Yes, particularly if he "won" over his main rivals by only a small amount. The only real reason for supporting Edwards was his supposedly better "electability" in comparison with Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama. The affair blows that away and all you are left with then is a greasy trial lawyer from the south.

Well, presuming the affair comes out on OTL's timeframe (probably necessary if Edwards has a close lead) may be a big leap. If Edwards looks like a more serious candidate, there will be more digging into his background as the race heats up.

In either case though, if Edwards amasses enough delegates (the affair comes out early) or if Edwards "wins" in May-June (the affair comes out late), then the convention could actually be deadlocked. Some of Edwards' delegates may desert, but their loyalites will be uncertain. And that leads to...Much fun!

Of course, it may be pretty hard for Edwards to have been more successful; it may require a POD that alters the affair to begin with.
 
It really would have been hard for Edwards to win the primaries, without a POD quite far back. Obama would probably have to decide not to run, or his campaign would have to fizzle early, and Hillary would have to be a weaker frontrunner from the beginning. If she were subjected to the 'electability' argument for nine months from Mark Warner or Evan Bayh, the 'conservative centrist' vote could be split, allowing Edwards to take the high ground amongst liberals and blue-collar workers.

So Edwards wins Iowa, survives New Hampshire, goes all-out in Nevada (his criminally weak performance there this year was because the media oxygen had been sucked up by the Hillary-Obama duel, and through very poor organising), wins South Carolina, and does well enough on Super Tuesday to be the presumptive nominee. It's possible but not likely.

So then Hurricane Hunter hits the Edwards campaign. Presuming it hits at a similar time of the year then I think there's room to try and tough it out: after all, there's simply no other pick, in the absence of a veep. Bill Clinton survived Gennifer Flowers, Richard Nixon survived the slush fund, Grover Cleveland survived an actual love child: there's precedent for Edwards going the whole bitter slog to November.

Of course, it's entirely possible that defeated rivals could revive their campaigns, trying to poach his disillusioned delegates, and we have the mother of all battles at the convention. Or that he could simply drop out and endorse another candidate, who would have about as much chance of winning the eventual election as I do.
 
I say Edwards get tossed at the convention (and yes, it's unlikely he'd win the primaries but it's possible). Although delegates are technically pledged to support their candidate on the first ballot, this is not actually binding and of course the super delegates are going to dump Edwards like a hot potato.

Imagine if Clinton having the morals of a snake came out a week before the '92 convention, and he admits it—Kerrey or Tsongas or Coumo would probably get the nod.

As for the '08 convention, Mark Warner could jump in, Clinton could pick up more delegates, Obama could bust out a speech and take it (the winning version of the '60 Adlai), and so on.

We get the most exciting convention since 1968.

Assuming it's still McCain than he has an edge, but any other Republican likely means a close race.
 
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