Morning Coffee is a collection of top-fold news, oddities, observations and wisecracks, peppered with financial advice, movie reviews and more gathered by TheSequitur.com contributors and editors.
Since he dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in late January, many have wondered who John Edwards would support for that position (or whether he would support anyone at all). Today at a Barack Obama campaign event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he's answered that question: he endorses Obama.
Obama introduced Edwards almost immediately in his speech to an ecstatic crowd before relinquishing the microphone to him. Edwards opened his speech by saying, "So, the question is, what am I doing here?" and joked that he was promised a jet ski. After praising the Democratic party, as well as Hillary Clinton, he made the statement people have been waiting to hear for months: "And the reason I'm here tonight is that the Democratic voters have made their choice, and so have I," going on to say that Barack Obama is the one man who can unite what Edwards described as two Americas.
There is some question as to what will happen to the 18 delegates (according to MSNBC) already pledged to Edwards. When the question came up after Wesley Clark dropped out of the 2004 race for the Republican nomination, Slate explained that "...delegates at the convention aren't technically bound to support the candidate voters asked them to back." In the end, with several primaries looming, it is doubtful that support from those delegates will be instrumental in the outcome of the race.
According to CNN, when Edwards dropped out of the race, some analysts, like Democratic strategist Peter Fenn, thought Edwards' endorsement could play a significant role in the nomination process. But back in January, it wasn't apparent that the battle between Obama and Clinton would drag on this long (in fact, TheSequitur.com editorial board called on Clinton to drop out of the race in February, less than a month after Edwards dropped out). Now that the race has gone on so long, it is unclear what kind of impact this endorsement will have on the campaign and voting at the convention. Regardless, Obama has picked up a high-profile endorsement by Edwards today – an endorsement some thought might never come at all. [MSNBC, Slate, CNN, TheSequitur.com]
Branden Hart, a TheSequitur.com assistant managing editor, works as an editor in San Antonio.
Morning Coffee 
