Good News For John Edwards (Sort Of)

The last few months have not been good for John Edwards. He has not only lost his credibility and his political career, but it now looks like he may actually go to jail for misusing campaign funds (to pay his mistress to keep quiet). He has been indicted by a Grand Jury and has been unable to make a deal with prosecutors. Edwards is a man who could use a little good news.

And a new poll by Public Policy Polling has delivered that little bit of good news -- a very little bit. They recently conducted a poll in Edwards home state of North Carolina. And it turns out that he is not the lowest rated politician they have ever polled about. He is only the second worst, losing out to Illinois' Rod Blagojevich. Here are the numbers:

JOHN EDWARDS
favorable...............9%
unfavorable...............81%
rating...............-72

ROD BLAGOJEVICH
favorable...............8%
unfavorable...............83%
rating...............-75

So Edwards can take heart. He is not the most unpopular politician ever polled in the history of this poll. He is only the second most unpopular (although I think he would probably beat Blagojevich in a national poll). But when you have dug yourself as big a hole as Edwards has, you have to take whatever little victories that come along -- even a very little one like this one.

But while most everyone believes Edwards is a scumbag, not everyone thinks he is guilty of a crime. The poll found:

IS EDWARDS GUILTY OF THE CRIMES HE'S CHARGED WITH?
no...............16%
maybe...............32%
yes...............52%

Personally, I agree with the 52% of North Carolina respondents.