New York’s John Heilemann stopped by Hardball on Thursday night to discuss with Chris Matthews whether John Edwards has a shot at a political future following his acquittal on a charge of violating campaign finance laws. (The jury deadlocked on five other charges, forcing a mistrial.) Heilemann told Matthews that Edwards blew it and is “more deluded than he has demonstrated himself to be in the past” if he thinks he’ll have a chance in electoral politics. Heilemann also said that things started to change for Edwards when he was on the ticket in 2004. “He went from being a guy, who everyone who knew him said he was one of the nicest, most genuine, most humble people in politics, to being an egomaniac.” And then Edwards “started to believe that he could get away with anything.”
