Johnny Edwards came to town, doo dah. Doo dah.

I went to the Edwards rally last Friday, and I honestly wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be. He’s a good speaker, and has a folksy manner about him. I disagree with him on some issues, and I just don’t think he made a strong enough case for voting for him over Kerry. I refrain from calling him a lightweight, because GWB is the lightest of the lightweights. Teresa Heinz-Kerry was supposed to come to Buffalo Saturday morning, but she cancelled at the last minute. Kerry himself was supposed to come to Rochester, but that, too, got cancelled. Kerry is supposed to come to Buffalo on March 1st. I've read some comments from people who are giving Edwards points just for coming to Buffalo, and criticizing Kerry because Teresa cancelled so abruptly. I don’t think Edwards' coming to Buffalo, by itself, makes a compelling enough argument to vote for the guy. And I heard that Teresa pulled out because of health reasons (eye infection or some such), and who am I to begrudge her that. (Show me that she attended some other event that same day, and then I’ll feel as if the campaign insulted us.) So, I'm still trying to decide whom to back in the nomination process. Both Kerry and Edwards are vulnerable to Bush attacks on the issues of the Iraq vote and no child left behind. This region is in serious trouble, and some think that, by ignoring WNY and the Southern Tier, a candidate signals that he won't help our region. If you want to better Buffalo, change needs to come from Albany. Not from Washington. Why is NYS near the bottom in job creation? Why is NYS second only to California in shedding jobs? Ask your State Senator. Ask your Assemblyperson. Ask Pataki. The only thing you can/should look to your Federal reps for is positions on more macro issues, (abortion, gun control, federal spending) and the occasional spreading around of pork. When Albany decides that it wants NY to be competitive with the other 48 states, then we’ll see some progress. We had 8 years of a Clinton administration, and WNY didn’t boom at all. That is proof positive that change in the White House means squat for this region. Let’s just say that getting things accomplished in other parts of the country is a whole lot easier than in NYS. Sometimes I feel that our State government exists for no other reason than its own self-perpetuation. People like Brian Higgins are the stark exception to that rule. Bush has already written NYS off, anyway. Just look at the Federal Courthouse shenanigans. Does Kerry take NYS for granted? Probably. And you know what? He’s probably right to do so. He should focus more energy and resources in places where the fight with Bush will be more competitive. He should be commended for paying as much attention to battleground states (Ohio is one) as he can. So, first of all I think Kerry’s got it wrapped up. He’s beating Edwards on the delegate count 613-192. Edwards is running a strong VP race. Staying positive, big smile. I’m voting for Wesley Clark in the March 2nd primary. Why? Because he’s the best candidate for the nomination. We slogged around for weeks getting signatures for him, and dammit I’m going to vote my conscience. Neither Edwards nor Kerry have convinced me that I should throw my vote to either of them – Kerry doesn’t need my vote, and Edwards didn’t earn it. So, I'm not working for either candidate's campaign because I don't care which one of them wins. They're both ok. The real battle begins in July, when the nominee is selected and goes out to do battle with Bush.