The Political Chase

Edwards, Obama meeting canceled

(Update below)

Barack Obama was scheduled to meet with John Edwards today, but apparently the meeting was canceled due to a severe case of paparazzi syndrome.

Greg Sargent spoke with an Edward’s aide today, but was not given a specific reason why the meeting was canceled; however, The Caucus indicates media frenzy was the salient factor.

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign has confirmed that he has canceled a meeting scheduled for today with former Senator John Edwards in North Carolina. The two have been talking on the phone and will meet soon, people close to both men say, but for now the media attention has become too intense and is out of control, with stake-outs at Mr. Edwards’s home.

Update:  Of course there is considerable speculation about reasons other than media frenzy, and much of what I have seen leans toward a negative perspective. Waited too long and thereby increasing irrelevancy; Edwards deciding not to endorse anyone, etc. The most outlandish, in my opinion, was this Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory.

I took it as a sign that by leaking news of her secret meeting to the press, Hillary’s people made it impossible for Obama to fly in to meet with Edwards without setting off a full-blown media frenzy and photographer parade all the way from the tarmac at RDU to Edwards’ house in Chapel Hill.

She definitely complicated the logistics of the trip for them and I doubt that was an accident.

No one knows for sure, but of the sampling I read from a few sites, I did not see anyone posit that: (1) both Clinton and Obama had already been conversing, therefore all parties probably had a good idea what each was seeking; and, (2) maybe Edwards’ meeting with Clinton yesterday Thursday was sufficient enough (either way), upon reflection, to no longer require a face-to-face meeting with Obama today.

Hillary may have made an offer that Edwards simply could not refuse. Conversely, she may have dissed him to the point where endorsing Obama and any known quid pro quo, if it existed, became a no-brainer.

Clinton had a bad day yesterday, which could have easily changed all the variables — up or down — for all three parties. Whatever the case maybe, we’ll just have to wait.