Edwards endorses Obama

Looks like I picked a good day to post good news about Obama. John Edwards has endorsed him, at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Finally! That's one big one down.

The location is interesting. Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a long way from North Carolina. It's also a very conservative part of the state. By making the announcement there, in what cannot possibly be friendly territory for either of them, Obama is signaling that he intends to fight hard for Michigan, and he intends to fight hard even in the conservative parts of the state. It also sends the message that he is not afraid to take his message to a community that would not appear to be composed of his demographics. It's also far from Detroit, where the African-American mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, is generating the wrong kind of headlines.

What about the timing? Some people will make the legitimate argument that Edwards is jumping on the bandwagon before it's too late. His endorsement is not really going to make a huge difference right now.

But in other ways, his timing is perfect. Suddenly Hillary's win in West Virginia is off the news. Obama controls this news cycle. And Edwards is endorsing Obama when he doesn't really have to. Obama does not need his endorsement to clinch the nomination. But it does help unify the party. For the people who care about these things, it boosts Obama's anti-poverty credentials a bit. Not that I think Obama needed better anti-poverty credentials, but it doesn't hurt. It should also help answer those "Can Obama get working-class white people?" questions. Edwards is rich now, but he's clearly a man who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Of course, so has Obama, so, again, this should help out there.