Anticipating John Edwards…

Here's a story about John Edwards convention speech tonight that's been published before the North Carolina senator has taken the stage (it's based on advance copies of the talk).

I'm barely staying awake for the talk, but here's two proactive questions. First, what's the statute of limitations on a "humble upbringing"? At what point can someone who has made a pile no longer lay claim to having been poor and all the psychic benefits that brings? (And of course, Edwards was never "poor" anyway).

Second, do people actually respond to his up-with-people optimism? "Between now and November, you can reject the tired, old, hateful, negative, politics of the past," says Edwards. "And instead, you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible, because this is America, where everything is possible." That sort of flapdoodle doesn't play in the Northeast for sure, but does it actually play in Peoria? If the past is any indication, negative politics seem to work pretty well.