Paging Erin Brockovich

With all the evidence of malpractice on Wall Street and in Washington, what taxpayers need is good representation for a class-action suit, and they don't even have to consult the Yellow Pages.

Legal crusader Erin Brockovich, the eponymous heroine of the 2000 movie, is consulting for a New York law firm, soliciting cases, investigating claims and starring in TV commercials seeking individuals who may have contracted lung cancer from exposure to asbestos.

Who better to take on toxic financiers and politicians than the feisty California woman who pushed one of the biggest class-action suits in American history and ended up being played by Julia Roberts in an Oscar-winning performance?

If Brockovich does well, she could follow in the footsteps of John Edwards who parlayed a career in negligence law into a Senate seat and a shot at the presidential nomination. Then again, maybe not.

Ambulance Chaser-in-Chief

After each loss, John Edwards keeps demagoguing from the heart, rehashing his closing arguments against the corporations he milked for millions as a negligence lawyer and is now trying to pummel all the way to the White House.

In his past life, Edwards settled for one-third of the take, but now he wants it all, to been seen as an idealistic fighter for the dispossessed and be rewarded with the most powerful job in the world.

It's disheartening to react so vehemently to someone who sounds so dedicated to defending the victims of corporate greed, but Edwards' passion is just too pumped up to be believable, too obviously about himself rather than those he seems to be championing and too inconsistent with the little he has achieved in a second career of chasing high office rather than actually serving the public interest.

Democrats have two formidable contenders who will now go head to head for the rest of the primary season. From here on, Edwards will only be an annoying distraction.