From Wikipedia:

"Edwards maintained a positive campaign and largely avoided attacking Kerry until a February 29, 2004, debate in NYC, where he attempted to put Kerry on the defensive by characterizing the front-runner as a "Washington insider" and by mocking Kerry's plan to form a committee to examine trade agreements."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Democr atic_Party_presidential_nomination,_2004

As I remember it, the media was pretty supportive of John Edward's candidacy until the day he withdrew.

Yep. Looking back I am struck at how no one was clammering for John Edwards to leave the race at this point in 2004, and at the same time he was being taken quite seriously as a candidate, even after having lost 11 straight races AND only having won a single primary before that. The Republicans certainly already had their candidate.

John Edwards was never the insider establishment candidate. He wasn't receiving special treatment because of that. Edwards was a one term U.S. Senator with no prior experience in politics before that one run for the Senate.

"I think it is simply an attempt to try and bully her supporters into submission."

I detest the bullying, and think there is more to it than just wanting to run unopposed.

So what's the rush to get her to drop out?

First, I think the Rezko trial is starting on March 3, and will be unfolding during the contest. We have no idea what that will uncover about Obama's connection's with this slumlord.  

Next, I believe it is only a matter of time before the people who are being bullied, threatened, and their arms twisted to support Obama start speaking out and giving lie to the notion that there is anything uplifting or transcendent about his very slimy campaign. Like Tavis Smiley's objections to his family and mother being threatened with violence. It is only a matter of time before the dirt on Obama's campaign starts to surface. If he clearly wins and Clinton gives up, there will be no way those intimidated people can speak up against their treatment at his hands, because there is too much of a possiblity that he could be the next president, and have the power to crush them utterly.

As long as Clinton stays in there is the hope they might be able to escape his domination, and not be ruined by him. If she drops out she also will be under his thumb. Some party leaders have already been threatening her not to defend herself, I think it is remarkable how much courage she has had to withstand the bullying.

Lastly, articles are beginning to surface around the nation that contest Obama's version of his accomplishments and his supposed character, and the weakness of his candidacy. Here is one long article in the Houston Press, and here is an excerpt from it regarding Obama's smoke and mirrors legislative "accomplishments" stolen from his elders in the Illinois State Legislature:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/n ews/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/1

...But what's interesting, and almost never discussed, is that he built his entire legislative record in Illinois in a single year.
Republicans controlled the Illinois General Assembly for six years of Obama's seven-year tenure. Each session, Obama backed legislation that went nowhere; bill after bill died in committee. During those six years, Obama, too, would have had difficulty naming any legislative achievements.
Then, in 2002, dissatisfaction with President Bush and Republicans on the national and local levels led to a Democratic sweep of nearly every lever of Illinois state government. For the first time in 26 years, Illinois Democrats controlled the governor's office as well as both legislative chambers.
The white, race-baiting, hard-right Republican Illinois Senate Majority Leader James "Pate" Philip was replaced by Emil Jones Jr., a gravel-voiced, dark-skinned African-American known for chain-smoking cigarettes on the Senate floor.
Jones had served in the Illinois Legislature for three decades. He represented a district on the Chicago South Side not far from Obama's. He became Obama's kingmaker.
Several months before Obama announced his U.S. Senate bid, Jones called his old friend Cliff Kelley, a former Chicago alderman who now hosts the city's most popular black call-in radio program.
I called Kelley last week and he recollected the private conversation as follows:
"He said, 'Cliff, I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator.'"
"Oh, you are? Who might that be?"
"Barack Obama."
Jones appointed Obama sponsor of virtually every high-profile piece of legislation, angering many rank-and-file state legislators who had more seniority than Obama and had spent years championing the bills.
"I took all the beatings and insults and endured all the racist comments over the years from nasty Republican committee chairmen," State Senator Rickey Hendon, the original sponsor of landmark racial profiling and videotaped confession legislation yanked away by Jones and given to Obama, complained to me at the time. "Barack didn't have to endure any of it, yet, in the end, he got all the credit.
"I don't consider it bill jacking," Hendon told me. "But no one wants to carry the ball 99 yards all the way to the one-yard line, and then give it to the halfback who gets all the credit and the stats in the record book."
During his seventh and final year in the state Senate, Obama's stats soared. He sponsored a whopping 26 bills passed into law -- including many he now cites in his presidential campaign when attacked as inexperienced.
It was a stunning achievement that started him on the path of national politics -- and he couldn't have done it without Jones.
Before Obama ran for U.S. Senate in 2004, he was virtually unknown even in his own state. Polls showed fewer than 20 percent of Illinois voters had ever heard of Barack Obama.
Jones further helped raise Obama's profile by having him craft legislation addressing the day-to-day tragedies that dominated local news headlines.
For instance. Obama sponsored a bill banning the use of the diet supplement ephedra, which killed a Northwestern University football player, and another one preventing the use of pepper spray or pyrotechnics in nightclubs in the wake of the deaths of 21 people during a stampede at a Chicago nightclub. Both stories had received national attention and extensive local coverage.
I spoke to Jones earlier this week and he confirmed his conversation with Kelley, adding that he gave Obama the legislation because he believed in Obama's ability to negotiate with Democrats and Republicans on divisive issues.
So how has Obama repaid Jones?
Last June, to prove his commitment to government transparency, Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million in pet projects for Illinois, including tens of millions for Jones's Senate district.
Shortly after Jones became Senate president, I remember asking his view on pork-barrel spending.
I'll never forget what he said:
"Some call it pork; I call it steak."

I agree that it is ridiculous that Clinton is being pressured to drop out, even though it seems that neither candidate can get enough pledged  delegates before the convention to obtain the nomination.  Even if he is ahead and she thinks it is impossible to secure the nomination, she should still stay in the race - you never know what could happen, and with the Rezko trial starting, it's best to have a back-up viable candidate at the convention just in case Obama's fortunes turn during the late spring and summer. No matter who is ahead in pledged delegates, if one candidate has been weakened enough by the time of the convention, if the democrats want to win, they will pick the strongest candidate.  And if McCain has to campaign against both Obama and Clinton until Sept, so much the better.  They can both campaign against him.