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Edwards Endorses Obama And Rains On Clinton’s Parade

Posted by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief in Politics.
May 14th, 2008 | Comments

Former Democratic Senator John Edwards endorsed Senator Barack Obama for the party’s presidential nomination — giving Obama a long-sought-after endorsement that both he and rival Senator Hillary Clinton sought…and raining on Clinton’s post-West Virginia primary political parade.

It was a sign of just how quickly this see-saw political drama can change, with Clinton last night insisting she’s in it for a while and can win last night, pundits seemingly rethinking Obama’s strength as a candidate even if he got the votes to be nominated, and the conventional wisdom seemingly starting to veer a bit against Obama’s electability, even though some poll numbers put Obama ahead.

But the main significance is this: in his endorsement Edwards came on a day when Obama picked up some more Superdelegates and added to the impression that the party is now starting to come together around Obama, even though the Illinois Senator was clobbered by Clinton — and blue collar voters — in West Virginia yesterday.

Over the past week many pundits wondered why more Democratic superdelegates and party bigwigs haven’t come foward to endorse Obama — and this could mark the start of Obama’s parade. It’s big news that in media terms is overshadowing Clinton’s win and the loss Barack suffered among several demographic groups in West Virginia.

Clinton needed to get a message out that she is still viable. West Virginia got her the media spotlight. Obama needed to the message out that he is ahead and can unify the party to start the battle against presumptive GOP Senator John McCain. Edwards’ endorsement now got him the media spotlight, and shoved West Virginia (for now) down in the news story rank.

Just look at some of the media coverage. MSNBC (linked above):

Democrat John Edwards endorsed former rival Barack Obama on Wednesday, a move designed to help solidify support for the party’s likely presidential nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy.

Edwards made a surprise appearance with Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., as the Illinois senator campaigns in a critical general election battleground state.

The endorsement came a day after Clinton defeated Obama by more than 2-to-1 in the West Virginia primary. The loss highlighted Obama’s challenge in winning over the “Hillary Democrats” — white, working-class voters who also supported Edwards in significant numbers before he exited the race in late January.

Edwards made a point of praising Clinton:

Edwards, who received a thunderous ovation when Obama introduced him to a crowd of several thousand, said, “brothers and sisters, we must come together as Democrats” to defeat McCain. “We are here tonight because the Democratic voters have made their choice, and so have I.”

He said Obama “stands with me” in a fight to cut poverty in half within 10 years.

Edwards also praised Clinton, saying “we are a stronger party” because of her involvement, and “we’re going to have a stronger nominee in the fall because of her work.”

He said Clinton is a “woman who is made of steel. She is a leader in this country not because of her husband but because of what she has done.”

CNN reports that the GOP and Clinton camps were quick to respond to the endorsement:

After the announcement, Republican National Committee Chairman Robert Duncan released a statement asking, “why didn’t Edwards endorse sooner?”

“Edwards’ endorsement of a candidate he previously blasted as inexperienced, hypocritical and lacking substance will not help Obama with voters looking for real change,” he said.

Edwards dropped out of the Democratic race on January 30 after poor showings in the early contests.

He told NBC last week that Obama, the Democratic front-runner, is the party’s likely nominee. Both Obama and Clinton, had sought Edwards’ blessing.

Clinton campaign Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Wednesday that “we respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over.”

According to CNN’s latest estimates, Obama has 1,884 total delegates (pledged: 1,600, superdelegates: 284). Clinton has 1,718 total delegates (pledged: 1,445, superdelegates: 273).

Edwards, meanwhile, has 19 total pledged delegates who may or may not pledge their support for Obama at the Democratic National Committee’s August convention in Denver, Colorado.

Imagery matters in politics because it helps shape perceptions of momentum. Clinton is expected to win the upcoming Kentucky primary handily. Obama is expected to win Oregon handily. Will one of them come up short in this see-saw political drama?

So in 24 hours we’ve seen the “see.”

And now we’ve seen the “saw.”

What’s the next “see”?

[CORRECTION: We erroneously had "white collar workers" in this post. It has been fixed to "blue collar workers." TMV regrets the error...JG]

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pacatrue

Yeah, as I said in another post, I think this endorsement, unlike most, actually is significant due to the effect upon superdelegates. It's another encouragement for them to declare for Obama and end the contest. As for whether or not it will have any impact in November, it depends upon Edwards actions over the next few months. If he, and especially if he and Clinton, were to actively campaign for Obama in the fall in the swing states where they are stronger and he is weaker -- Ohio, PA -- then they can truly make a difference. Edwards won't have a huge impact, but if he can convince just 5-10% that Obama is better for them than McCain, then it can be enough to swing the state. If today's endorsement is the end of Edwards' activity on behalf of Obama, it will matter little.

DLS

It's a mighty big prize for those with stars in their eyes.

vwcat

Pundits are forever stupid. The reason there was no rush of supers to Obama was twofold. One was to give Clinton some room and respect without making it look like they were pushing her out and the other was that Obama likes to rolls them out a little at a time. Not all at once.
They know it but, they just cannot help reverting to permanent stupid.
One reason Edwards decided to come out today was that the latest obsessive storyline of the press - pushing the fake story of Obama has problems with blue collar voters (nevermind that he is getting the same as Kerry and Gore- white guys) they were starting to do some damage to Obama and Edwards felt he needed to come out now and stop the damage by the press. There is a difference between a fake storyline and one that they harp on obsessively until it begins to do some real damage. And the press has done enough damage to Obama already over the past 2 months with their obsessions.

Neocon

Appears to me who won the John Edwards lottery.

Barak Obama promised John Edwards more then Hillary did and by a wide margin.

Given the fact that John Edwards was spurned by John Kerry his former running mate from 2004 to endorse Barak Obama over John Edwards tells me that Barak Obama literally may have offered John Edwards something rather significant in the possible Obama presidency.

Nothing wrong with this. That is after all. Politics. Problem is if the truth came out those who favor Obama would be aghast that their political messiah is nothing more then a:

Politician.

Say it ain't so Joe. Say it ain't so.

CitizenKang

Barak Obama literally may have offered John Edwards something rather significant in the possible Obama presidency.

I agree, in fact the endorsement seems a likely result of Hillary's campaign finance problems.

She simply couldn't afford the jet skis.

StockBoySF

"Obama literally may have offered John Edwards something rather significant in the possible Obama presidency. Nothing wrong with this. That is after all. Politics. Problem is if the truth came out those who favor Obama would be aghast that their political messiah is nothing more then a: Politician."

Yup, this is politics but Obama has positions in his administration that he needs to fill. He's not going to give them to people who don't support him. Besides this is a fairly benign form of politics.

A malignant form of politics is when a candidate (such as Bush) claims to be a compassionate conservative.... and it turns out he supports torture and takes away constitutional rights of US citizens. Or that Bush campaigned on a humble foreign policy and did not believe in nation building, but then turns around and invades countries that don't threaten us while ignoring the terrorists who are America's sworn enemies.

So this is certainly politics, but not all politics are bad.

So, what position do you think Obama offered to Edwards? I would say VP, and that would help Obama with his blue collar white male vote, but the way Edwards stood up for Hillary suggests that Edwards wants to stay in Hill's good graces, so perhaps she may be VP, which would mean that Edwards might be Attorney General... maybe?

His Comedy Central video spoof- where he said he wants to be a spy, suggests he's interested in the CIA- as the Director. But I think he's was just having fun with the spy bit. And I think he would make an awesome AG.

daveinboca

Oh yeah, a moonbat trial lawyer specializing on defendants avoiding prosecution. I wonder how this clown would try to indict real criminals instead of the fake cases he tried as an ambulance chaser. Great AG alright!

pacatrue

Just to make sure I'm clear, no one has any evidence that anything was promised to Edwards by either candidate, but we've already figured out it's been done and what the likely position is? Just checking that I got this.

Lynx

"[CORRECTION: We erroneously had “white collar workers” in this post. It has been fixed to “blue collar workers.” TMV regrets the error…JG]"

Oh let me guess, you wanted to write "blue collar workers" but you were THINKING "uneducated whites" and it turned into the hybrid "white collar workers". After all, the new code is "urban=black" and "blue collar= white working class".

(I should note that this isn't a criticism, just a thought based on the recent use of these new words)

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