FAILING UP

The Cat's Still In The Bag (Dotty Lynch, Douglas Kiker, Steve Chaggaris, Clothilde Ewing, Nicola Corless, Smita Kalokhe and Joanna Schubert, 7/10/03, CBS News)

Republicans are targeting North Carolina Democrat John Edwards' Senate seat, which is up in 2004, and now the Democrats are putting pressure on Edwards, too.

Edwards, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, has not been definitive about whether he plans to stay in the Senate race. On Wednesday, according to the Raleigh News and Observer, he met behind closed doors with
Erskine Bowles, a possible Democratic Senate candidate, to discuss the upcoming elections. Bowles and Edwards left the meeting with their lips sealed.

State law allows Edwards to keep his name on the ballot for both the Senate and the White House, but political insiders don't think that will wash. North Carolina Democrats are asking him to give a clear sign of his plans so the party?s
candidate will have enough time to prepare for the election and raise adequate funds.

As a vague indication, Edwards' presidential campaign press secretary Jennifer Palmieri said Edwards has no intentions at this time to meet with any other potential Senate candidates.

No one has quite been able to explain why a first term Senator with no legislative accomplishment to his name would run for president in the first place, but the reason is and has been fairly obvious: he can't win re-election. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 10, 2003 6:52 PM