John Edwards and Hillary Clinton are trying to one-up each other on the politics in their Christmas ads, but where Hillary attempted humor (and revealed her statist ways), Edwards goes dour and reveals that he’s just a sourpuss. He is the candidate for angry nutroots, after all, and they tend to be Scrooges 24/7/365.

Dark lighting, a Christmas tree that’s all but invisible, indistinct background music, certainly no crosses or overt references to Christmas to be found anywhere in the ad so he won’t generate any conspiracy theories. When he ticks off the poverty stats and asks “Who will speak for them?” let’s just say that a silky millionaire trial lawyer isn’t the first person to come to my mind. The ad’s about as sterile and lame as a Christmas ad can get. It really isn’t a Christmas ad so much as an ad that happens to air around Christmas. It’s a flop.