Bill Richardson drops out of the race, Senator John Kerry endorses Obama

A couple of interesting political stories coming out on the Democratic race.

Richardson ends his presidential run: This MSNBC News story is reporting that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is ending his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Richardson praised his Democratic rivals, but refused to endorse anyone. Democratic senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, citing poor results. What is happening here is that the Democratic electorate are weeding out the little guys from the race. This is going to be a race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with John Edwards nipping at both of their heels. I don't think Edwards has the money, or the support, to actually win the nomination. But I do believe that Edwards has enough support to make it through Super Duper Tuesday, gathering up a nice chunk of delegates to his slate. At the convention, Edwards could use those delegates currying political favors from either Clinton, or Obama, for his support. Edwards could play king-maker.

Kerry endorses Obama for president: The title of this MSNBC story really says it all. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry announced his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. It is ironic that Kerry announced this endorsement two days after Senator Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary, while also making this announcement in South Carolina, which will hold its primary two weeks from now. Of course, this Kerry endorsement is also a slap in the face of John Edwards, who was his vice-presidential running mate during the 2004 presidential election. Does this endorsement by Kerry mean anything? Personally, I think that Kerry's endorsement to any presidential candidate is meaningless crap. John Kerry really screwed up in running his 2004 presidential campaign by both not attacking the Swift Boat veterans for questioning his service in Vietnam, and for falling into the disastrous flip-flopping trap Karl Rove set up against Kerry on his Iraq war votes. What is worst, is that Kerry ran against an incumbent president who was weakened by the Iraq war, with Americans who were worried about the direction that the Bush administration was taking with this Iraq war. I seriously wonder how many Democrats are going to listen to a former Democratic presidential candidate's endorsement after screwing up his campaign?