Bad Timing/ Web Goof Spoils Edwards' Big Day

In politics timing is important.

That's why smart strategists do everything in their power to time their announcements just right.

Good announcements are timed to get maximum attention. Bad news is timed to garner the least amount of attention (bad news is usually "dropped" on a Friday afternoon). But the truth is that sometimes situations are beyond the control of political "experts." John Edwards found this out the hard way. According to the Fix:

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards announced this morning on NBC's "Today Show" that he is planning a second run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. Edwards unveiled his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination from the Lower Ninth Ward, the part of New Orleans hit hardest last year by Hurricane Katrina. (AP Photo) But will anyone be paying attention to his well-scripted kick-off?

Edwards and his strategists decided several weeks ago that an announcement in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day -- typically one of the slowest news weeks of the year -- was his best chance to dominate national news coverage. If he waited until January, their thinking went, Edwards would likely be competing with similar announcements by Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) and Barack Obama (Ill.), both of which will draw massive media attention and would almost certainly have pushed the Edwards's decision to the side.

What Edwards could not have foreseen was former President Gerald Ford's death on Tuesday night and the subsequent wall-to-wall coverage.

Clearly, Edwards was doing his best to time the perfect announcement. And obviously, Edwards had no control over Ford's "untimely" death. But luck wasn't the only problem Edwards had. According to the WaPost, he was "scooped by his own website":

"What happened was, apparently, they were testing the Web site," said Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards's spokeswoman. "I guess, somehow, when they were testing it, AP happened to catch it."

But, as the Fix notes, announcements aren't the most important part of a campaign:

It's important to remember, however, that campaign announcements tend to be quickly forgotten. Can anyone remember how Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced his bid for president in 2004? How about George W. Bush's announcement in 2000?

Give Edwards credit for picking a creative location to underscore his campaign message. The Post writes:

Edwards chose New Orleans for his announcement to highlight his interest in the issue of poverty, which has been his focus for most of the past two years. He has been to Louisiana numerous times since Katrina hit and recruited 700 college students to join him here in the spring to volunteer their time, helping clean out and rebuild destroyed homes.

Still, this is the first official maneuver of his nascent campaign, and I can't help but think it's at least a bad omend -- if not foreshadowing of a poorly-run campaign to come ...