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I learned this morning of John Edwards’ expected departure from the presidential race this afternoon. I’m sorry to see him go; he was my favorite of all the significant contenders. He was the most pugnacious where it counted—overthrowing the gross abuses of power the neocons have visited upon the nation for fifteen years or more.

To some extent, he was a victim of his own strategy, failing to peddle his message aggressively enough to draw in a large war chest for the campaign trail. But he was even more victim to the self-fulfilling nature of media attention. Edwards suffered a virtual media blackout, ignored by news media who saw more exciting, more controversial stories in a woman, a black man, a former first lady, the new kid with a real pitching arm. What can you do against post-Iowa headlines that read “Obama Wins It; Hillary Comes In Third”?

I am sorry, too, to see Edwards go just now. It’s been clear (to me, at least) for some time that he could not win the nomination, not even sailing up the middle of a potential bloodletting between Clinton and Obama. Nonetheless, pulling in ten to twenty percent of the vote, he forced the discussion farther toward badly needed populist initiatives, and could have continued to pull it in that direction. Even in defeat, he could have done much more good in defining the national discourse by fighting on. He could at least have stuck it out another week, past Super Tuesday.

I think I am most sorry to see him go without endorsing someone else. Edwards has the power to swing a close contest only for a very limited time before the news media forget his existence altogether. And if he must go now, then the few days before Super Tuesday is the most powerful moment to deliver an endorsement, while all those delegates remain undeclared.

I have a definite preference for his choice of endorsement. Like Edwards, Clinton has proven pugnacious, as well, but only in her willingness to sabotage other Democratic contenders. When it came to putting up a fight against Bush and company, or Gingrich and Delay before them, she failed miserably. Obama is more of an unknown; with so little time in the Senate, there’s precious little record by which to separate his actual intentions from appealing but empty rhetoric. Still, hope springs eternal, and we may hope he will show a backbone where Clinton has not, and demonstrate a better understanding of who his enemies are. Obama also shows more respect for the rules than Clinton, as she attempts to get her Michigan and Florida votes counted, ex post facto. More importantly, this country needs a Democratic landslide victory in 2008 if it is to reverse the terrible damage of the past decade; Obama may be able to lead such a landslide victory, but Clinton, despised by many Democrats as well as Republicans, decidedly does not. Above all, I believe Obama can beat any of the likely Republicans, while Clinton could well lose to McCain, or even Romney or Huckabee.

If Edwards must go now, therefore, I wish he would endorse Obama, as his tone in the debates suggests he would, if forced to choose, and do it quickly. But whoever he might choose to endorse, now is the time to do it, while his endorsement can still earn him some major political favors, before Super Tuesday establishes a clear front runner without him. Those favors could translate into planks in the national platform, or the Attorney General’s office, or even, fates willing, a seat on the Supreme Court. If anything can end a principled but unsuccessful campaign on a high note, it would be this.

Farewell, John. You will be missed.

But it’s not all bad news today. Rudy Giuliani, he of the barefaced lies and the police state mentality and the ceaseless, ceaseless nostalgia for 9/11, has also taken a loss in Florida as his cue to bow out, showing more grace in doing so than I ever saw from him in his entire political career. I won’t say he should be fade from memory; supposedly dead political careers have a way of resurrecting themselves in appointive posts and lobbying firms, and we would do well to remember Giuliani and remain watchful. Rather, let us hope he fades from reality, taking with him his record of race politics, forcing the emergency services into offices in the WTC, threatening protestors with snipers, awarding his own businesses contracts, and using all the powers of his office to harass his political enemies, and even those he considered insufficient friends.

New York learned long ago that this was a greedy, egotistical, vindictive, and downright evil man. Propelled onto the national stage, he managed to alienate voters wherever he went. The more they saw of Giuliani, the less they liked him, and with good reason. Some people bring smiles wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Get out, Rudy. Try not to ooze anything on the carpet as you leave.