Mike Sedita

Warren County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Sedita said if the news is true about former Sen. John Edwards giving up his presidential aspirations, Sedita would back Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"I would definitely be supporting Obama because he’s the more progressive candidate," said Sedita, who is a delegate candidate for Edwards on the Feb. 5 ballot.

As Obama resists the Tom Cruise temptation to leap out of Oprah's stuffed chair in excitement over Iowa poll numbers that show him with a slight lead, and establishment darling Clinton searches for a way to generate vitality beyond the marble pillars of officialdom, former Sen. John Edwards remains a statistically relevant presence, at least in Iowa.

"Edwards is not done," insisted Peter Woolley, executive director of Fairleigh Dickinson's PublicMind poll. "The fat lady hasn't sung. He's still running third. If one month before the Iowa caucus, it's as close as it is, you're doing very well. But the bad sign about Edwards is his level of support has been pretty static. He's not moving the needle."

In the Northeast, Edwards' presidential campaign ravenously pursues good news, and finds little. The fact that the one-term senator and former vice-presidential nominee emerged the winner at an informal caucus in Roselle Park on Friday belies the fact that Clinton's supporters bolstered Edwards rather than get seared by the victory chants of their prime tormentor, Team Obama, which placed second.