John Edwards Getting Nowhere

John Edwards should be doing better as a presidential candidate. He's charismatic, he's personable, he's a populist, and he has great hair. But he's been lagging in the polls due to the media buzz around Lady Hillary, and her campaign is beginning to suck up all the oxygen even in Iowa. Could it have something to do with money guru Jim Cramer calling Edwards a Trotskyite? I think so.

Ironically, Edwards's campaign may be getting a lift from another media star who gets agita at the very thought of a President Edwards. Ann Coulter, the right-wing harridan known for her big mouth and small brain, recently made fun of Edwards by citing a nonexistent bumper sticker on his car that reads, "Ask Me About My Dead Boy." (The Edwardses lost a son, and Coulter apparently thinks they've exploited his memory for political gain.) Oh, and she also recently hoped aloud that Edwards would be killed in a terrorist attack in a terror attack of her own. Elizabeth Edwards called Coulter while the Beast From the East was on Chris Matthews's MSNBC show, and had a few choice words with her, but Coulter was unmoved. Makes sense, considering her waspish stiffness.

Though this ability to push people's buttons helps Coulter sell books, it's helped Edwards get an infusion of badly needed money for his badly lagging campaign. A lot of people have come to Edwards's defense, although some pundits, not wanting an Edwards victory, says that neither he nor his wife should have given Coulter the time of day and shrugged it off. Except when the source of Coulter's barbed comments is a dead son, you have to expect the Edwardses to fight back. John Edwards himself responded on Matthews's show, but kept his voice low, stated his case, and left it at that.

The central issue of Edwards's campaign remains unaddressed. Even as people say how terrible it is that Ann Coulter is making fun of Edwards, no one is calling for Jim Cramer to apologize for questioning the candidate's Americanism.