Update: Edwards has endorsed Obama...

Edwards to Endorse Obama

By CHRISTOPHER COOPER AND AMY CHOZICK
May 14, 2008 5:26 p.m.

Barack Obama's campaign is touting a "major endorsement" of his candidacy tonight and the endorser is former Sen. John Edwards, according to people close to the former North Carolina senator and the Obama campaign.

Mr. Edwards, who dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination Jan. 30, placed second in the Iowa caucuses in early January and was a favorite of the party's liberal wing. In West Virginia, where he appeared on the ballot, and Sen. Hillary Clinton won in stunning fashion, Mr. Edwards garnered 7% of the vote -- a surprise for a candidate who dropped out of the race before "Super Tuesday" voting in early February.

NBC NewsWire via AP Images

Edward and Obama during a New Hampshire debate in September.

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Mr. Edwards will join Sen. Obama at his Grand Rapids, Mich., rally where he will announce his endorsement.

Mr. Edwards could give a boost to Obama's candidacy by attracting the exact sort of voter that has been Sen. Clinton's strength -- white, working-class voters from rust-belt states who are drawn to a populist political philosophy but have mostly rejected the senator from Illinois. Sen. Clinton, vastly outgunned in delegate count and popular vote by Sen. Obama has nonetheless kept her candidacy alive by arguing -- somewhat successfully -- that such voters will be crucial in November.

Mr. Edwards previously declined to back either candidate, both of whom courted his endorsement and promised to advocate for antipoverty issues he has long championed. More recently, he hinted that he might take sides soon.

People close to Mr. Edwards have said that he has found deep flaws in both Sens. Clinton and Obama -- Sen. Obama because he lacked the fire to wage war against special interests in Washington, and Sen. Clinton because she takes money from lobbyists and remains firmly part of the beltway aristocracy, which he considers to be the problem with American politics.