John Edwards may not have made his endorsement yet, but his chief strategist Dave "Mudcat" Saunders sure has.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure it's not Hillary Clinton."  Saunders added: "Hillary Clinton has about as much chance of beating John McCain as this Scots-Irish hillbilly has of becoming pope."

"I've gone over the math carefully," said Saunders.  "Barack Obama, I don't know enough about him to make that decision on whether he can win.  I've never met him.  But his chances would have to be stronger than Hillary's."

Hillary?

"She's got toxic coattails," added Saunders.  "I think it could be devastating for the party."

Ditto for former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones (also known as Cooter on "The Dukes of Hazard"), another high-ranking member of the former Edwards campaign.

"I've already enlisted in the Barack Obama campaign," Jones said.  "The fight goes on.  It's about the past and the future, and I'm with the future.  I think the Clintons are the past."

It's probably wishful thinking to hope this kind of attitude can trickle down to a majority of the Edwards rank-and-file...but I can hope.