John Edwards for President

"We cannot replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other."

And there you have it.

The entire speech is worth reading, but that one sentence above is what separates the former senator from North Carolina from all of the other very fine Democratic candidates for president. For me.

Yes, Edwards has the most aggressive environmental platform (here's more about that), and yes, he's the only candidate who is talking about poverty in America by going to the most poverty-stricken areas in America and talking to impoverished Americans. And yes, he's got deep grassroots and netroots support.

Today he receives the endorsement of two of the nation's largest unions of working men and women, indicative of his strong support for and from American labor.

There have been many brighter minds than mine who have written about the choice we have. Stirling Newberry is one. Derek Larsson is another. Julie Kornack is a third.

Republicans, conservatives and assorted ankle-biters have whined about his haircut, the size of his home, even his wife's frank comments. Ann Coulter called him a "faggot", employing the unique Republican definition that is only a gay slur secondarily. (It's the same way "bleeding heart" and "tree-hugger" are derogatory, in case you were wondering.) There have been screeds written about his investments, about his SUV, about whether Karl Rove is terrified of an Edwards nomination. Their latest insane ranting is about his health care proposals.

There have been far more attacks from the right on John Edwards than there have been on the seemingly inevitable front-runner. (This is a a subjective quantification by yours truly, to be sure.)

If you need to know whether you agree or not with any of his positions, the entire listing from ontheissues.com for Edwards is here.

There's a bottom line and here it is: There's nobody else who comes close to the progressive, populists ideals than John Edwards. This blog happily and proudly endorses his candidacy.

Update (9/4): Texas bloggers TXsharon and refinish69 join me in the endorsement. Also Vince and Hal. My dear friend Prairie Weather is almost there. David Mizner of MyDD also endorses, and has the collection of blogs around the nation who do likewise. Neil Aquino at Texas Liberal and The Texas Cloverleaf add Rick Noriega to an Edwards endorsement.

Edwards also is the current leader in the Texas Democratic Party's e-Primary poll.