politics

WASHINGTON – Former Sen. John Edwards on Wednesday endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president, throwing his stature as a populist champion of the working class behind a onetime rival whose failure to appeal to such voters has been his chief political weakness.

Edwards’ decision comes too late to affect crucial primaries or earn Edwards much credit for being an Obama loyalist. But it’s nevertheless a blow to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had courted the former North Carolina senator heavily since he dropped his presidential bid on Jan. 30 and was hoping to relish her big win Tuesday in West Virginia a little longer.

“This is one of those endorsements that really matters,” said Stephanie Cutter, an unaligned Democratic strategist who worked on Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. “It’s another sign that the primary race is coming to an end.”

“The Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I,” Edwards told a crowd of Obama supporters at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Edwards’ endorsement came hours after abortion-rights group NARAL deserted Clinton after years of support to endorse Obama. The developments suggest that despite Clinton’s big victory Tuesday and her determination to keep fighting for the nomination, important parts of the Democratic Party are jumping aboard the Obama bandwagon before they’re left behind.

Clinton vowed to remain in the race until the last primaries next month, but she hinted that the protracted contest with Obama would end shortly thereafter.

“You don’t walk off the court before the buzzer sounds,” she said on CNN. “You never know, you might get a three-point shot at the end.”

Only five primaries remain between now and the last one on June 3. Edwards had controlled 19 pledged delegates, who are now free to vote for whomever they please. To win the nomination takes 2,025 delegates, and Obama is closing in on a majority.

Sounding as interested in a spot on the ticket as he did in 2004 when he became John Kerry’s running mate, Edwards repeated his own campaign theme of “one America” and a desire to end poverty, curb the power of Washington lobbyists, create universal health care and restore the nation’s reputation globally. He said that Obama could achieve those goals as a man of “bold leadership.”

Edwards also praised Clinton as “a leader in this country not because of her husband but because of what she has done.” He said she made Obama a stronger candidate for the fall campaign.

Political scientists said Edwards’ timing had some advantage for both Obama and for Edwards if he’s angling for vice president.
“It’s a story that tackles the biggest problem Obama faces,” said Julian Zelizer, a history professor at Princeton University, speaking of Obama’s trouble attracting working-class white voters.

“And it’s a nice reminder for the Obama team of what Edwards might bring to the ticket. Obama needs to get these voters. There’s a real fear that [Republican John] McCain could pick up Democratic voters in states like Ohio and Florida, white working-class voters that are not enthused about Barack Obama either for racial reasons, elite reasons, whatever.”

Also on Wednesday, Clinton, facing a campaign debt of more and $20 million, gathered with her top national fundraisers to seek their help to compete in the final five contests in Kentucky, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota.

Obama, meanwhile, took his campaign to the blue-collar battleground state of Michigan, promising auto workers that Detroit could again become a powerhouse in a restructured automobile industry. “I’m running for president so the cars of the future will be made where they’ve always been made, right here in Michigan,” he said at a town hall meeting in Warren, in Macomb County, often a bellwether in national elections.

Bloomberg News Service contributed to this report.