Former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said yesterday that he thinks Barack Obama will be the party's presidential nominee and that Hillary Clinton must be careful not to damage the party's prospects in November as she continues her campaign.
Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who dropped out of the race in January, did not say whether he might still endorse one of his former rivals.
"I know how hard it is to get up and go out there every day, speak to the media, speak to crowds, when people are urging you to get out of the race," Edwards said.
"If she makes the case for herself, which she's completely entitled to do, she has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects - the Democratic Party, and our cause, for the fall," he said in a taped interview broadcast on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Clinton pledged to stay in the race after losing to Obama by a wide margin in North Carolina and barely winning in Indiana. Obama holds the lead in pledged delegates and pulled slightly ahead in superdelegates over weekend.
Edwards also said Clinton probably "didn't choose her words very well" when she suggested that Obama was losing the white vote.
Some accused Clinton of reintroducting race into the campaign in a recent USA Today interview, in which she said: "There was just an AP article posted that found how Senator Obama's support among working - hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how the, you know, whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In his first days back on the campaign trail since a decisive victory in North Carolina, the Illinois senator has joined in on games with reporters that he has snapped at in the past, pretended to run a hurdle event at a college track meet, and been surrounded at a taco shop by diners cheering him on in Spanish.
A week ago, Obama was wondering whether he would lose votes after some stumbles while campaigning and after being forced to denounce his former pastor. But he looked like he had few worries last week as he moved closer to a victory in the race for the Democratic nomination.
Obama received a standing ovation from about 5,000 fans then walked a victory lap around the track during a surprise visit to the Twilight Track Meet at the University of Oregon on Friday. He even pretended to take up the announcer's invitation to join the men's 400-meter hurdles race. Obama, in dress shoes and slacks, jogged up to a hurdle stepped over it, jogged a few steps and then waved to the cheering crowd.
Obama is not yet taking an official victory lap in the Democratic election battle and has been careful to note that the race is not yet over. But he is clearly looking beyond the final six Democratic primary races. Tomorrow, he will visit Missouri - his first trip focused on a general election swing state.
REUTERS
Asked on "Fox News Sunday" about the suggestion and how seriously it was being considered, David Axelrod, Obama's chief campaign strategist said, "Very seriously."
