Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Edwards' endorsement is mostly irrelevant

So the news right now is that John Edwards has just endorsed (or will soon endorse; I'm a little confused on the timeline) Barack Obama for president.

On the face of it, it's a pretty big deal. Edwards was the number 3 candidate behind Clinton and Obama, and he still has his fair share of supporters. He also possesses some pledged delegates left over from the early contests; presumably, these would shift over to Obama, bringing him that much closer to the magic number.

I myself am not a fan; I've never been all that impressed with him. His record is thin, and his recent transformation from a cautious, moderate senator to a left-wing firebrand stretches credulity.

But leaving aside all that, does it matter? At this late stage, not much. Most of Edwards' supporters shifted over to Obama a long time ago. By waiting this long, with the nomination contest all but over, he has relegated his endorsement to the realm of the irrelevant. It's good for a headline, but not much else. And frankly, if he wanted to score some brownie points with Obama, an endorsement that actually helped him win a few states would have done the trick, and may have even secured him another VP nod, if he was interested. Now, I doubt it.

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