The political dance that no one watches

I link to The Herald only because I first came across this story while editing on the night desk. Apparently, failed Democratic (or "Demmie," as some seem to say around these parts) VP candidate John Edwards might not perform the same bow-and-back-off maneuver that fellow failure Joe Leiberman vowed to do in 2004 for former running mate Al Gore. Could we see Edwards facing off against ticket-buddy John Kerry?

EDWARDS WON'T STEP ASIDE FOR KERRY
RALEIGH -- Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards will not talk about whether he plans to run for the White House in 2008, but he is not pledging to stand aside if running mate John Kerry tries again. Edwards said in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's This Week that he and Kerry have talked often since they lost in November.

Seriously folks, who cares? Aside from playing second fiddle to Barbara Boxer during the at-times-interesting-but-largely-irrelevant Condi Rice Secretary of State confirmation hearings, has Kerry really made enough noise for anyone to tab him the Democratic frontrunner? I mean, sure, he's shown a tad of humanity (which would have been really keen during the presidential campaign) since his loss, but what does that add up to? Not much, except a few bits of interesting trivia. Let's face it. It's very unlikely Kerry -- or Gore, for that matter -- will pull a Dick Nixon and win the presidency on the second or third try. America doesn't like losers. At least not Democratic ones.

And more importantly, back to Edwards, will the former senator even merit more than a blip on the political radar even if he manages the near-impossible feat of recapturing the lightning in a bottle he had during the 2004 primaries? Doubtful. So, in essence, Edwards has tried to make this bit of non-news into something that could light the few twigs still lying around the 2004 Campaign campfire. I can't blame him. He'll probably have a lot of spare time on his hands for the next few years.