A Mistake or Political Calculation?

Dem activist Bob Shrum, who never met an election he couldn't lose, has a new book out which appears to be trying to give John Edwards some cover on his Iraq war vote (from Special Report):

Veteran Democratic consultant Bob Shrum, who advised both John Edwards and John Kerry during the 2004 Presidential cycle, says Edwards was disinclined to vote to authorize the Iraq war, but was talked into doing so for political reasons.

In a book to be published in June, parts of which were obtained by the AP, Shrum describes a meeting in Edwards' Washington living room in the fall of 2002. He says the Senator was leaning against voting to authorize force in Iraq and that his wife was strongly against it.

But Shrum says he and other advisers argued that Edwards, as a freshman Senator, would appear unserious about national security, if he voted no and that Edwards reluctantly went along.

Edwards says he has "no idea" what Shrum is talking about and that his vote was a mistake but not a political calculation.

Just an empty suit with good hair.