5/15/08

title:Edwards endorses Obama, praises Clinton
current event
who:Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John Edwards
what:Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday at a campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan.The reason I'm here tonight is because the Democratic voters have made their choice, and so have I," he told the boisterous crowd.
when:5/15/08
where:WASHINGTON
why: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.
how:The conventional wisdom is that Barack Obama will pick up maybe 60 percent of them, and in some places, that makes a huge difference," former presidential adviser David Gergen said in January.
Time magazine's Joe Klein said Clinton "represents a lot of the things that [Edwards] campaigned against, you know, the old Washington Democratic establishment that he believes got too close to the corporations in the '90s."
Edwards announced that he was dropping out in New Orleans, Louisiana, the same city where he declared his run for the 2008 Democratic presidential race.
"It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," he said.
With his wife and children at his side, Edwards said he couldn't predict "who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," but he said it would be a Democrat.
Edwards trailed Clinton and Obama in the early contests. He came in third in key races in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Klein said Edwards played a positive role in spurring his competitors during the early part of the campaign.
"On a lot of substantive issues like health insurance, he was the first one out of the box with a very ambitious universal plan, and I think he forced the others to become bolder in a lot of their policy prescriptions, energy dependence and so on," Klein said.