ENDORSEMENT

The endorsement of Barack Obama by former senator John Edwards has rocked the election news, at least for this 24 hour cycle. Edwards, despite his current personal wealth, brings genuine blue-collar credentials into the Obama camp, being the son of a mill worker who grew up in extreme poverty. He will also probably adds his eighteen pledged delegates to the Obama count, wiping out the twelve-delegate gain that Hillary made in West Virginia, though that isn’t automatic.

Edwards was my first choice because he was the first to identify what I consider the most serious problem facing American democracy: the control of legislation by big business and their lobbyists. He saw, long before Barack or Hillary, that the way to reduce their influence was to cut their ties to elected officials by introducing publicly funded elections.

How much weight this endorsement will carry in upcoming primaries is anyone’s guess, but if Edwards actually goes on the stump for Obama in Kentucky, that could make a huge difference. He is, after all, a southern boy.

Sen. Clinton, who has fought the good fight, would do well to start working on a gracious exit speech, as the end is nigh.

a foot on either side