Talk about a day late and a dollar short...
From The Political Radar:
Former Sen. John Edwards is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy Wednesday evening, in a dramatic attempt by the Obama campaign to answer concerns regarding Obama's appeal to working-class voters, several senior Democratic sources tell ABC News.The Obama campaign confirms Edwards will endorse Obama at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan Wednesday. The event was originally scheduled to start at 7pmET, but was moved up to 6:20pmET, presumably to have the announcement make the evening news.
Edwards, who ran for president on a platform of eradicating poverty, plans to appear alongside Obama for the announcement. The event comes one day after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Obama by 41 points in the West Virginia primary, and Edwards' endorsement will give Obama a key establishment stamp of approval as he attempts to close out the nominating process.
While I'm sure that Obama appreciates the endorsement I don't think he's to happy about the timing of it. It would have benefited him more prior to the PA primary. The fact that Edwards waited to endorse until after after Obama had a lead in both pledged delegates and superdelegates just makes him look opportunistic. After all the vast majority of the race is over. That does however invalidate the rumor that Edwards was promised the AG position by Obama in return for his endorsement. At this point the Edwards endorsement may hasten the current exodus of of superdelegates fleeing Clinton's camp for Obama's banner. In that light if Edwards late endorsement allows the Dems to avoid a brokered convention it may prove to be worth its weight in gold if only to the DNC.
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