WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama on Wednesday won the endorsement of former presidential candidate John Edwards and seven more Democratic superdelegates, dealing Hillary Clinton a difficult political blow only a day after her big victory in West Virginia's primary.
"The Democratic voters of America have made their choice, and so have I," Edwards said at a rally with Obama in Michigan.
Barack Obama is joined by John Edwards at a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The endorsement by Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who was the Democrats' vice presidential nominee in 2004, came immediately after Clinton appeared on every major U.S. nightly newscast and seemed determined to underscore the long odds she faces in winning the party's nomination.
It also came at an opportune moment for Obama, whose 41-percentage point loss to Clinton in West Virginia highlighted his ongoing problems winning support among blue-collar Democrats.
Edwards, who made poverty in America a central plank of his failed presidential bid, won seven per cent of the vote in West Virginia despite having suspended his campaign in January.
"We respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over," Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign manager, said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Edwards won just 18 delegates while he was in the Democratic race. But while past high-profile endorsements have turned out to be largely symbolic, Edwards' backing may have important consequences if he can deliver his delegates to Obama.
Despite Obama's stinging defeat in West Virginia, he quickly began to erase the delegate gains Clinton made in the Mountain State. Another seven Democratic superdelegates -- the party officials and politicians who automatically receive votes in the presidential race -- announced they were backing the Illinois senator.
They included the leaders of America's college Democrats and party officials from Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Clinton received the endorsement of one new superdelegate Wednesday.
Obama has now accumulated an estimated 1,885 delegates, just 140 short of the 2,025 he needs to clinch the Democratic nomination.
-- Canwest News Service
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