What if it's a two-man Democratic race?

If Clinton were to exit the race, Edwards would have the opportunity to go head to head with Obama. Edwards is the veteran of dozens of debates from the 2004 race against his Democratic rivals and of one tough debate against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Obama has had the experience of this year’s debates against his rivals, plus a very easy Senate race in 2004 against the conservative Alan Keyes.

Edwards has liabilities
Of course if it does turn into an Edwards-Obama one-on-one event, Edwards has his own liabilities for his foe to exploit, such as his vote for the 2000 China free trade deal, a vote that stands in glaring contrast to his rhetoric today on the campaign trail.

Video Showing her soft side Jan. 7: Following her admission that the campaign has become personal for her, Hillary Clinton talks about trying to woo the groups who voted against her in Iowa. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports. Nightly News

And why would Edwards making specific arguments against Obama be any more effective than Clinton has been in making them in recent days?

“That’s simple: Clinton is the Establishment; she is the status quo,” Trippi said. “If you want change and it’s Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, you vote for Barack Obama every time.”

Trippi acknowledges that there are many Obama supporters who feel a deep, passionate commitment, one that can’t be shaken by critiques of his record.

But he argued that “there is no evidence that the other 62 percent of the electorate views Obama in any way but through logical argument.”

Looking beyond New Hampshire to the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses, at one point pundits thought the powerful Culinary Workers union in Nevada would back Edwards. But it has not.

Trippi painted this Nevada scenario for Edwards, Obama and Clinton:

“If Obama is the winner here (in New Hampshire), he’s likely to get the Culinary Workers in Nevada; if he gets Culinary Workers in Nevada, there’s no way she’s going to win Nevada. So she loses Nevada. The one thing I can guarantee you is that if we stay in, there’s no way she wins South Carolina. There’s no way she can win,” Trippi said.

All in all, a gloomy scenario for Clinton.

Figuring out 'Super Tuesday'
But if she were to go into the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests in 23 states with four straight losses — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the Jan. 26 South Carolina primary — so, too, would Edwards — unless he can pull off a win in South Carolina.

Even if Edwards wins South Carolina, Obama is still likely to have a cash advantage for Feb. 5.

The Super Tuesday contests are so numerous, so far flung and include such expensive media markets — California, New Jersey, Illinois, and New York, among others — that no candidate will have enough cash, Trippi argued.

Any campaign manager would rather be in Obama’s camp than in the Edwards camp at this point. Yet if the race does evolve into a two-man contest, anything is possible.

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