Byline: By DEBORAH ORIN Washington Bureau ChiefStruggling to keep his Democratic presidential bid alive, underdog John Edwards yesterday told President Bush to stop trying to anoint John Kerry: “Not so fast, George Bush. You don’t get to decide who our nominee is.”
He was referring to the fact that Bush singled out “one senator from Massachusetts” in a barb at the Democratic contenders.
But polls offered more hints that Sen. Kerry (Mass.) will be the nominee a day after Bush made the jab in a speech to GOP governors that was billed as the president’s unofficial campaign kickoff.
Kerry led Sen. Edwards (N.C.) by more than a 2-to-1 ratio – 56 percent to 24 percent – in California, which votes with New York and eight other states in next week’s 10-state Super Tuesday showdown.
With Edwards concentrating on upstate New York, Kerry is sending fellow Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Edward Kennedy into the region for a two-day stump.
Kerry said yesterday that Kennedy would star at campaign rallies in Albany and Syracuse on Friday and in Rochester on Saturday, focusing on the loss of jobs during Bush’s tenure.
Kerry’s lead in the latest New York poll last week was 66 percent to 14 percent. Leaving nothing to chance, aides said Kerry would spend $1.5 million on TV ads on the Super Tuesday states of Ohio, Georgia and New York. Edwards is also buying more TV ads.
The focus on Super Tuesday, when 1,151 delegates – more than half the 2,162 needed for nomination – will be selected, overshadowed last night’s votes in Idaho, Hawaii and Utah, which picked a total of just 61.
So far, it appears that Edwards has been unable to capitalize on his surprisingly strong second-place finish to Kerry in Wisconsin last week, losing to Kerry last night by wide margins in Utah (55 percent to 30 percent, with 85 percent of the precincts reporting) and Idaho (60 percent to 21 percent, with 62 percent of the precincts reporting). The dynamic of the race hasn’t changed, with Kerry still seen as the all-but-certain nominee.
Edwards’ best – and maybe last – chance to change the dynamics in his favor could come in tomorrow night’s CNN debate from Los Angeles at 9 p.m. (New York time) or Sunday’s New York debate on CBS at 11 a.m.
Edwards has won just one state, South Carolina and his chief hopes for Super Tuesday wins are Georgia and Ohio.