{"id":15543,"date":"2008-05-15T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2008-05-15T12:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/15543.html"},"modified":"2008-05-15T08:30:32","modified_gmt":"2008-05-15T12:30:32","slug":"edwards-declares-democratic-race-over-will-endorsement-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/edwards-declares-democratic-race-over-will-endorsement-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwards declares Democratic race ‘over’; will endorsement matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With most of the Democratic Party’s heavyweights already having weighed in with their presidential preferences, there were a few high-profile holdouts who remained on the fence. Near the top of the list was John Edwards, who made quite a splash when endorsing Barack Obama<\/a> yesterday in Grand Rapids, Mich.<\/p>\n

John Edwards gave his long-awaited endorsement to Senator Barack Obama on Wednesday, bolstering Mr. Obama’s efforts to rally the Democratic Party around his candidacy and offering potential help in his efforts to win over working class white voters in the general election.<\/p>\n

“The Democratic voters in America have made their choice, and so have I,” Mr. Edwards told a roaring crowd of more than 12,000 people here in the Van Andel Arena, on a day when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to capitalize on her victory on Tuesday in West Virginia and convince superdelegates and contributors that she still has a chance to capture the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n

“There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to create one America — not two — and that man is Barack Obama,” Mr. Edwards said at an event that resembled the closing night of a party convention, with the two men standing arm in arm and waving as the crowd chanted “Yes we can!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Edwards added<\/a>, “The Democrats have made their choice. The primary is over.” For the Clinton campaign, the Edwards endorsement was problematic enough, but that sentence had to sting a bit.<\/p>\n

While Edwards has rejected talk of future political aspirations, the NYT noted<\/a> last night that the former senator has privately told aides that “he would consider the role of vice president, and favored the position of attorney general, which would appeal to his experience of decades spent in courtrooms as a trial lawyer in North Carolina; and his desire to follow in the footsteps of Robert F. Kennedy, one of his heroes.”<\/p>\n

So, what’s the likely impact of Edwards’ Obama endorsement? There are two schools of thought on this.
\n
\nThis can make a big difference.<\/b><\/p>\n

Edwards’ appeal is strongest among working-class whites, who’ve been largely skeptical about Obama, and who might be inclined to give Obama a second look in light of Edwards’ support. This might be even more likely if Edwards begins actively campaigning for Obama.<\/p>\n

For that matter, Edwards’ endorsement helps signal the end of the Democratic nomination fight, and may help pull still more undecided superdelegates off the fence. Plus, the timing of the announcement was huge — Edwards shifted the story away from Clinton’s landslide victory in West Virginia, and gave Obama some major headlines in Michigan, where he’s largely starting from scratch.<\/p>\n

This won’t make much of a difference at all.<\/b><\/p>\n

In general, endorsements don’t amount to much, and Edwards’ base of support in the party is relatively modest. Even his support among working-class whites is probably exaggerated. If Edwards had thrown his support to Obama in February, it might have had a greater impact. Now, it’s less significant.<\/p>\n

I suppose which of these you embrace depends largely on your disposition.<\/p>\n

Post Script<\/i>: And what of Edwards’ delegates? I’ve seen competing estimates, but it appears the former senator has between 16 and 19 pledged delegates, and will likely get a couple more in June at the Iowa state convention.) They’ll probably switch<\/a> to Obama, with Edwards’ encouragement, but they’re free to back Clinton if they choose to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With most of the Democratic Party’s heavyweights already having weighed in with their presidential preferences, there were a few high-profile holdouts who remained on the fence. Near the top of the list was John Edwards, who made quite a splash when endorsing Barack Obama yesterday in Grand Rapids, Mich. John Edwards gave his long-awaited endorsement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}