(John) Edwards endorses Obama, calls for party unity

So much for thinking I could afford to take a small break today. After waiting nearly five months, John Edwards finally announced his support for Barack Obama today in a giant rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Just like NARAL earlier today, Edwards emphasized the need for party unity and insisted that the Democratic race was over. "The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I," he said. In other words, this endorsement is a post-primary show of support, a firm way of telling Clinton that her time has come.

When Edwards unexpectedly dropped out on January 30th, a quick endorsement appeared certain. Edwards had campaigned primarily as the anti-Clinton throughout the fall and reserved his harshest criticism for the New York Senator, famously allying himself with his fellow 'candidate of change' Obama at the New Hampshire debate on January 5th. But not only did nothing happen, but reports started implying that a Clinton endorsement should not be ruled out. The main point of discord was health care: It became difficult for Edwards to rally Obama when the debate over mandates -- in which Clinton was defending Edwards's side -- was the main defining issue of the primary.

Edwards's endorsement comes months to late to affect the primary process. It could have helped Obama get a clearer edge on Super Tuesday, boosted him among blue-collar voters in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania. Yet, Edwards's move fits the new narrative of the race -- that of a Democratic Party coalescing around its presumptive nominee with increasingly less oxygen for the Clinton campaign to rely on to continue its effort. With the remaining superdelegates looking for signs the game is over, the cover provided by the endorsements of high-profile party leaders could push them to hurry their choices. It is true that the same was said when Obama got the endorsement of Richardson but the pace of superdelegate endorsements has actually significantly increased since Friday -- it is no longer just speculation.

The one tangible consequence of Edwards's endorsement is the question of the delegates -- and even this will only matter if the Democratic race somehow stays muddied all the way to the end of August. Edwards has 18 pledged delegates that he acquired in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Edwards will certainly urge these delegates to cast their ballots for Obama but they are not pledged to follow their candidate's instructions. While it is likely that most of them would follow Edwards's lead, these 18 pledged delegates are now essentially superdelegates and their endorsements will have to be tracked.

Very noticeable today was the absence of Elizabeth Edwards. The former candidate's wife, who is acquiring an increasingly high profile particularly on the issue of health care, was even more critical than her husband was throughout the fall, even provoking a series of controversies over whether she should tone down her attacks. Yet, reports have increasingly suggested that she has been leaning towards the New York Senator in the past few months; the issue of health care appears to have turned her away against Obama, and she has publicly said that she holds Clinton's plan to be the superior one (hardly a surprise considering how similar Edwards's plan was to Clinton's).

Asked whether Elizabeth would make an announcement herself, John explicitly said he was only speaking in his own name today. This does not diminish the value of today's endorsement -- after all, he is the former Senator and the former candidate, and he is the one who will now be put on the list of potential Obama VP or Attorney General picks -- but Elizabeth's absence confirmed what until now was only a rumor: the Edwards couple's allegiance is split and so is the Democratic base's. While a major step towards the party's fully rallying around Obama, John's endorsement also highlights that Democrats are still far from presenting a unitary front.