Jan 30, 2008 4:42 pm US/Central
Adviser: MN Edwards Supporters May Lean To Obama
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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John Edwards fired up the crowd of about 1,000 by praising the late populist Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died in a 2002 plane crash. (File)
CBS
More than 1,000 Minnesotans jammed into a union hall to roar approval for Democrat John Edwards Tuesday evening. Hours later they were cut loose when he quit the presidential race.
Now they're picking between the last two Democrats standing, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The Edwards bloc is potentially significant, with 10,000 supporters identified by his campaign ahead of Tuesday's precinct caucuses.
A key Edwards adviser is giving the edge to Obama. Ted Mondale, the former state senator who emceed Edwards' final campaign rally in St. Paul, said he expects "a good chunk" of Edwards' base to back the Illinois senator.
"There was a feeling in the campaign that in many instances Obama and Edwards were sharing the more progressive wing of the party, and the less institutionalized wing of the party," said Mondale, who got a call from his father, former Vice President Walter Mondale, urging him to support Clinton.
The end of Edwards' campaign caught his Minnesota backers off guard, even though the former North Carolina senator was trailing his rivals. State House Majority Leader Tony Sertich said he was still planning weekend campaign events on the Iron Range after the rally. Those are now off.
Both Sertich and Mondale said they needed a little time to choose between Obama and Clinton.
"The Edwards campaign was more than just him as a candidate," Sertich said. "It was about what he was speaking about -- ending poverty, health care, the squeeze on the middle class, the two Americas that we have. And I think the candidate that best takes on those causes in a real way will attract supporters of John Edwards."
Sertich wouldn't say which candidate that might be.
A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, another Edwards supporter, had no immediate comment on Oberstar's plans to back another candidate.
Mondale said Edwards could have picked up a fifth or more of Tuesday's DFL caucus vote, and done particularly well in Duluth, on the Iron Range and in southern Minnesota. Labor unions were a key constituency, with many clad in "Carpenters for Edwards" shirts attending Tuesday's rally. Both Clinton and Obama have attracted some union endorsements, giving labor supporters no obvious choice, Sertich said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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