Democracy for Vancouver

Thank you, John:

John Edwards didn’t endorse when he pulled out of the presidential race in January. Or before the crucial Super Tuesday primaries. Or before voters in his home state of North Carolina went to the polls last week.

But the former North Carolina senator on Wednesday endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, saying the party must unite for “the fight of our lives.”

“There is one man who knows and understands that this is a time for bold leadership,” said Edwards, standing next to Obama at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. “That man is Barack Obama.”

Now do you get it, Sen. Clinton?

Evidently not:

Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe said in a statement: “We respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over.”

Political strategist and Clinton ally James Carville said Edwards’ endorsement was a psychological boost for Obama, but unlikely to sway many voters.

UPDATE-

And thank you, Steelworkers:

John Edwards’s decision yesterday to fall in behind Sen. Barack Obama continued to have reverberations today with the announcement by the United Steelworkers that it is giving the senator from Illinois its endorsement.

In a press release distributed this morning, the union noted that its leaders “felt strongly that because of Senator John Edwards’s deep commitment to working people and because of our shared beliefs, he deserved our strong endorsement.”

“Today, by virtue of a unanimous vote of our International Executive Board, we find ourselves once again in agreement with Senator Edwards, this time with his decision last evening to endorse Senator Barack Obama. And thus today, the United Steelworkers enthusiastically endorses Senator Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States,” the statement said.

The Steelworkers are 650,000 strong, have 18,000 volunteers at the ready, and an unprecedented campaign warchest to get their point of view across this fall.