McCain Wins; Giuliani and Edwards Bow Out
John McCain's surprising winner-take-all victory in Florida suggests that Republican voters are more pragmatic than party leaders, given the fact that only Republicans (no independents) were eligible to vote on Tuesday. Rudy Giuliani's departure wasn't even a swan song, it was an inevitability that everyone except the campaign and much of the mainstream political punditry had seen since late last year.
John Edwards returns to his advocacy role -- health care and poverty -- and leaves the Democratic field a match race. His voice will be missed. I wish he had at least waited until next Wednesday.
His populist rhetoric forced his rivals to compete for union support, and he was the first out of the gate with detailed plans for universal healthcare and education, putting pressure on the field to match him. The former trial lawyer arguably won a majority of the debates, time and again challenging his opponents to refuse money from lobbyists and speed up their plans for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq.
With Edwards out, Ron Paul (R) remains the only non-mainstream candidate in the race. Let's see what Tuesday brings for him. And what Bloomberg makes of the Republican fall-out.