One thought occurred to me this morning while we waited to hear if Edwards would endorse and tried to game out who his departure benefits: Isn't the timing of Edwards's withdrawal a gift to Obama in itself?
By "timing" I don't mean pre- or post-February 5; it's still an open question which one Obama would have preferred. I mean the morning after the Florida primary, when most of the media was focused on the GOP result, but there was probably room for one Democratic storyline. Prior to Edwards's withdrawal, that storyline could have been Hillary's basically-meaningless win in Florida, or the now-infamous "snub." Once Edwards announced his withdrawal, he elbowed those stories aside.
The Obama campaign has to be pleased with that, even if there's no endorsement forthcoming.
--Noam Scheiber