By CHUCK BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

Democrat John Edwards is endorsing former rival Barack Obama, fresh signs of the party establishment embracing the likely nominee even as Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to give up her long-shot candidacy.

Edwards was to appear with Obama in Grand Rapids, Mich., as Obama campaigns in a critical general election battleground state.

The endorsement comes the day after Clinton defeated Obama by more than 2-to-1 in West Virginia. The loss highlighted Obama’s work to win over the “Hillary Democrats” — white, working-class voters who also supported Edwards in large numbers before he exited the race.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and the 2004 vice presidential nominee, dropped out of the race in late January.

Both Obama and Clinton immediately asked Edwards for his endorsement, but he stayed mum for more than four months. A person close to Edwards, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he wanted to get involved now to begin unifying the party. Obama also signed on to Edwards’ anti-poverty initiative, which he launched Tuesday with the goal of reducing poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.

When he made his decision, Edwards didn’t even tell many of his former top advisers because he wanted to make sure that he personally talked to Clinton to give her the news, said the person close to him. Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, who has said she thinks Clinton has the superior health care plan, did not travel with him to Michigan and is not part of the endorsement.

David “Mudcat” Saunders, a chief adviser for Edwards on rural affairs during his presidential campaign, said the timing of the endorsement couldn’t be better given Obama’s resounding loss in West Virginia on Tuesday.

“For Barack Obama, I think he ought to kiss Johnny Edwards on the lips to kill this 41-point loss,” he added. “The story is not going to be the 41-point loss. It’s going to be Edwards’ endorsement.”

Edwards waged a scrappy underdog campaign for the Democratic nomination, always outshone by the historic nature of Obama possibly being the first black nominee and Clinton the first woman. But Edwards was considered their strongest contender, even as he balanced the rigors of the campaign with the personal blow of Elizabeth’s returning breast cancer.

Edwards promoted progressive policy ideas and came in second to Obama in Iowa before coming in third in the following three contests and dropping out in New Orleans, the location a reminder of his attention to poverty.

Obama has a total of 1,887 delegates, leaving him just 139 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination. Clinton has 1,718 delegates, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press.

Edwards has 19 pledged delegates won in three states: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Most of the those delegates have already been selected, meaning they are technically free to support whomever they choose at the party’s national convention, regardless of Edwards’ endorsement.

___

Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report

Clinton and Obama Differ From McCain

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

The sharply contrasting health care visions of Republican John McCain and his Democratic presidential rivals offer the promise of a grand campaign debate — if the candidates find room on a crowded agenda.

While health care reform ranks as the second-biggest domestic issue after the economy in most national opinion polls, it will compete with the Iraq war, taxes, high gas prices and other topics for a prime-time spot in the campaign for November’s presidential election.

Nearly two decades of health care debate has made little headway toward finding a consensus approach, and the issue has not been a key factor in a presidential election since the collapse of the Hillary Clinton-led reform effort in 1994.

“There is no question there are fundamental, Grand Canyon-like differences on health care between the two parties,” said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy group.

“But it’s an open question whether it will be a hot issue in the campaign,” he said. “I now believe the biggest obstacle to health care reform is this ideological divide — is there any way to bridge these differences?”

McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, and Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Clinton of New York have unveiled ambitious but very different plans to overhaul the health care system.

McCain finished a week-long campaign swing in Denver on Friday that highlighted his plan, which would use tax credits to help shift from employer-based insurance coverage to an open market system where people can choose from competing policies.

Clinton and Obama seek universal health coverage for the 47 million Americans without insurance. Clinton would mandate coverage, while Obama would require it only for children.

The Democratic plans would keep the existing job-based insurance system but expand government involvement in a hybrid public-private system.

TOUGH SELL

McCain calls the Democratic plan a “big government” solution that limits choice. Democrats say his plan reduces the incentive for companies to offer coverage and puts workers at risk of not getting it — particularly those with pre-existing conditions that insurance companies will not cover.

Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan policy research organization, said the Democratic plans had more political appeal.

“I would expect to see the Democratic approach resonate more with voters. They are very clearly telling voters you are going to be eligible for a public program,” he said.

McCain’s plan to allow people to move away from job-based coverage is a tough sell, analysts said. Polls show three-quarters or more of Americans are generally happy with the insurance they get through their employers.

At least some of the political fury that doomed Clinton’s health care initiative in 1994, when she was first lady, was fueled by the reluctance of people to abandon their employer health coverage.

A 2007 survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a private nonpartisan foundation that supports health policy research, found four of every five Americans, including three-quarters of Republicans, believed employers should either provide health insurance for workers or contribute to the cost.

“People are comfortable with what they know and afraid of change,” Altman said. “The burden of proof is always on people who want to change their current health plan.”

McCain’s plan is similar to the one put forth by President George W. Bush that fell flat in Congress, where gridlock on the issue is the norm. All of the proposals would face potentially drastic changes in Congress.

‘BASIC INSECURITIES’

“I don’t think McCain’s plan goes to the heart of people’s concerns. It does not address the basic insecurities of not having coverage or not having enough money to pay your bills,” said Susan Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund.

“It may sound good. ‘You’re in charge.’ But because of the way the insurance market works, it’s difficult,” Davis said. “The whole market is geared to excluding people who are sick.”

McCain said Americans would warm to his proposals once they became familiar with them.

“I’m confident that when we debate and discuss this issue most Americans would rather have their families making decisions about their health care,” McCain told reporters last week. “The issue cannot go unaddressed.”

But Ginsburg did not sound confident health care would become a top agenda item in the next six months.

“I wonder if it’s going to be so complicated that people tune out,” he said. “We probably won’t come out of this election with a real mandate for getting it done.”

(Editing by Xavier Briand)