Last updated on July 1st, 2012 at 06:33 am
Though Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in West Virginia last night by 67% to 26%, it doesn’t seem like anyone is talking about her. Most of the news from this morning centers around when she will finally exit the race—not on her victory, and certainly not on what she will do once the race is over.
The news does not get any better for Clinton this afternoon.
It appears that it is final. If not for Hillary, at least the long-awaited endorsement of John Edwards is final. News from the Associated Press is that former presidential candidate, and the Democrats’ 2004’s Vice Presidential candidate, John Edwards has finally made up his mind. He’s dipping his feet…no, no, he’s jumping into the deep end of the tidal pool.
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Perhaps the unintended pun of the “tidal pool” reference is apt. This evening, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Edwards will make it official that he is supporting Barack Obama. The endorsement could not have come at a better time for Obama. Just a day after what could have been seen as a bad defeat in a state carrying white, working class men, a voter block that Obama is surely going to need in November to win, he gets Edwards, the white, working class men’s champion, to come aboard.
In this way, Edwards’ endorsement continues a definitive Obama pattern of measured and effective counter punching after vital losses. Back in March, after Obama lost crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio, he was able to shuttle another coveted endorsement, that of Governor Bill Richardson, to the public and the media for consumption.
Having Richardson endorse him two weeks after the loss of Latino-laden Texas blunted Clinton’s celebration. And again, tonight, with Edwards’ endorsement, Obama will again blunt Clinton’s basking over West Virginia and her supposed connection with working class white men.
This bodes well for Obama. But it may bode even better for Edwards. By delivering his much-sought-after endorsement to Obama, Edwards may be cementing a high-level, high-profile position in the Obama cabinet, should Obama win in November.
It appears that Democrats are starting to close ranks and rally around their man. Superdelegate after superdelegate are coming out for Obama. John Edwards is just the latest, but maybe a cementing figure, to take a deep drink of the H2Obama.
