John Edwards announced his candidacy on December 28th at 8:03 CST in New Orleans.

John Edwards has the best announcement so far. The people will see him as a leader. He'll win the attraction contest and he'll have a lot of support from women voters. He would do very well to have a strong and intelligent woman VP on his ticket. If he does this he could win. However without a strong woman VP, the announcement has a key weakness that will prevent him from the top job.

Astrology comments - Here's the chart. If fuzzy click again to zoom.

Venus on the Asc clearly makes John Edwards the most attractive candidate and in our TV culture this counts. This Venus is much more potent than it looks due to being conjunct to Jupiter by antiscion (one of the my favorite traditional Greek techniques - check the box on the lower right). Venus conjunct Jupiter is one of the best aspects in astrology. This shows that John Edwards has truly good intentions for both a positive campaign and presidency. He'll have support from women voters (Venus means women). The other key strength of this chart is that the Moon, ruling the 7th house and representing the public at large, is very close to the exaltation degree of the Sun. This means the people will see him as a leader and so he'll naturally be among the top choices. His partner can be seen as a strong leader as well. 

However, this chart has a couple of key weaknesses that limit my optimism for his chances of top office. First the Sun - and for leadership Sun is key - isn't strong by position or rulership. The Sun is buried in the 12th house and its ruler Saturn is afflicted  by being Rx just off the 8th cusp. The term ruler of Sun is Mercury very afflicted by being also in Capricorn and about to be conjunct to antiscion of Pluto. There may be some hope from the antiscion position of the Sun at 23 Sag thanks to the Moon trine; but still I'd like to see a stronger Sun. If the strength of the Sun comes through the Moon, then John Edwards needs a fantastic VP to win.

The midheaven isn't bad, but also doesn't have anything special going on. Ruler Mars in the 11th looks good but is applying to square Neptune. It's almost as if his own ideals get in the way of victory.

The kicker from my view is that the Part of Fortune (circle with the X) is almost exactly conjunct Saturn by antiscion. Poverty (literally meaning of Saturn conjunct the POF) will be a theme, but for a victorious campaign I'd prefer something stronger.