Tonight. In time for the evening news, John Edwards will endorse Obama, according to ABC News.

***

You wondered if/when Edwards would endorse? Answer was: At the point when his endorsement would wrap it up for Obama (or, if things had gone much better for her, Hillary).

Clinton’s decision early on to defend PACs and special interests as people too, and not merely a necessary evil in the fundraising forest, aligned Edwards and Obama as the “Change” options to her “Billary Restoration” campaign, a point Edwards made forcefully in the New Hampshire debate when he tried his darndest to usher her out of the race. As it turned out, his attack on her backfired (remember the tears?) and three weeks later, he was out. Since then, however, Clinton’s been the candidate who worked harder at appealing to Edwards’ blue-collar constituency, and her universal health-care package is a faithful copy of Edwards’ plan, something Elizabeth Edwards has taken to pointing out. So Edwards has been content to bide his time and throw his support to one or the other of his ex-rivals only when he/she was on the verge of victory — key word, verge. If he’d waited any longer, Obama would’ve wrapped it up without him. As it is, Clinton’s lopsided victory in West Virginia last night made it seem like Obama was in need of a momentum-breaker. Enter Johnny.

Edwards, back when he was retracing Bobby Kennedy’s trip through Appalachian poverty, made a lot of friends in Kentucky. Look for him to join Obama there in the days before next Tuesday’s Kentucky primary, where Hillary is heavily favored, but anything short of West Virgina-order blowout will be seen as an Obama comeback. And if Obama, as expected, wins the Oregon primary that night, it should end this so-called “contest” once, for all and officially, with Clinton dropping out.

If you saw Esther Hall waving her sign behind Obama Tuesday night, you had a feeling this was coming from the congressman/superdelegate:

Dear Friend:

I released the following statement earlier today:

“I will cast my vote as a delegate in Denver for Senator Barack Obama. The decision was not easy. Senator Clinton has run an impressive campaign, and has spoken eloquently to the concerns of working and middle class American families. She is one of the great leaders of this generation.

“Senator Obama understands that he has the chance not just to win the election this year, but to be a great president. Americans know that Republican policies have failed because Republican ideas are wrong. Americans know that our government has not acted, to use Franklin Roosevelt’s words, as trustees for the whole people, but have taken the side of powerful economic interests on every issue. Americans want a fundamental change in course.

“Senator Obama will seize that opportunity.

“If Senator Obama and Democratic candidates up and down the ticket win this year and then deliver next year, we can build a consensus that will last a generation.”

Which cities in America are best & worst for commuting? The worst is easy: Atlanta. Best? Buffalo, NY. That’s according to Forbes magazine, which has been studying the subject. Runners-up? Don’t get nervous, Raleigh. Detroit is second-worst, and Salt Lake City is second-best.

Ah, but in the small-city category* — the ones with 500,000 commuters or less — that’s where Raleigh runs a dismal second-worst, exceeded in our misery only by Birmingham, Alabama. Raleigh’s “a victim of its own success,” Forbes says, with fast growth, little or no transit ridership (let alone anyone who walks to work), and an average 35 hours per year lost in traffic jams. Not bad compared to L.A., where 72 hours a year is lost on average; but comparable to such big-city traffic messes as Dallas or Tampa.

The best small-city is Corpus Christi, Texas, where 57 percent of commuters get where they’re going in 20 minutes or less, and time lost to traffic congestion is minimal. In second-best Eugene, Oregon 3 percent of “commuters” walk to their jobs(!), which helps the averages a lot. What kills the averages: lots of residential sprawl, skimpy transit alternatives, jobs spread out everywhere (kills carpooling) and not enough road lanes to carry all the one-rider cars. Hey, we could’ve told ‘em that.

Uh, not much of a debate. Both candidates sounding good, looking … well, Moore looked good, while Perdue looked either better or worse depending on what you make of her perpetual smile.

Issues? Not really, except for Perdue’s tie-breaking vote in the Senate that gave us the state lottery (as Lt. Gov, she only votes to break a tie). Moore called the lottery for what it is, “a fool’s game,” but he added that he knows his is a minority opinion and there’s going to be no repealing the lottery now. No repealing it, but no advertising it either, Moore promised. To which Perdue added a hasty “me, neither.”

As I look at my notes, they reinforce my general impression that Moore won on points, but maybe didn’t raise any single issue strongly enough to help him close what seems — from the polls — to be a +/- 8-pt Perdue lead going into the last two weeks of the primary campaign. Perdue got the better of the non-opening openings, but so filibustered it that she perhaps gave the advantage away right there. In any event, the moderators thereafter were determined to level the playing field time-wise, and Moore — with their help — dominated the next five questions in a row. The following three (on immigration) were a draw. Then the lottery issue was raised, and Moore won that one. The last three questions were also drawn, except that one of them — about whether Moore was hiding something re: pension investment returns — was an issue about which Perdue should’ve had something to say (she’s been pounding away at the subject in her ads), but apparently she didn’t dare.

One good question posed by the WRAL team was about where the candidates would get the money they’d need to fulfill their campaign promises. Perdue’s answer: a blue-ribbon commission would study state spending and find cuts, and she’d force the legislature to accept or reject its recommendations as a package. Moore’s response: finding cuts is the governor’s job, and the veto is how you enforce them. That’s one of the five answers I gave to Moore. Also the next one, when Moore successfully contrasted “doing” something with “talking about doing” something. And the next one, on how he’d pay for tuition cuts (with $$$ from the Golden Leaf Foundation, versus Perdue’s verbiage — and belated ditto on Golden Leaf). And the next one, on education, when Perdue vowed to do right by every element of the education system we’ve got, while Moore said successful organizations focus on a few things, not everything, and he’d focus on cutting the dropout rate.

Bottom line, though: Not much there for the Moore campaign to work with going forward, while Perdue managed to dispel the issue of her ducking debates.

Finally, the two leading Democratic candidates for governor have come together around the obvious, best result. Both said they wanted a televised debate in front of the largest possible audience. WRAL, together with its Capital Broadcasting-owned brethren stations in Charlotte and Wilmington, offered, and Richard Moore accepted. Bev Perdue held back for awhile, but just now she accepted too. Time: 7:30 8 pm.

there is one to be had on The Stinging Nettle.

Now that we know he needs a jet ski(s), does John Edwards own his own bowling ball?

PPP’s tracking poll on the NC Democratic primary shows Obama up 57%-32% on Clinton; but otherwise — and not surprisingly — in the state primary elections it’s the women out-polling the men: Bev Perdue is ahead of Richard Moore, Kay Hagan is (far) ahead of Jim Neal, June Atkinson leads Eddie Davis, and Beth Wood is ahead of Fred Aikens. In the three-way race for the Treasurer nomination, Janet Cowell is even with David Young (Michael Weisel trails), and Mary Fant Donnan leads the four-way field for Labor Commissioner, though they aren’t many “decideds” in either one of these.  Details here.

The polling consensus in tomorrow night’s Democratic race in Pennsylvania is Clinton over Obama by 5-7 points. But one polling firm’s had it as a nail-biter for weeks, with Obama ahead by 3 points, which means (with the margin of error) at least even. That firm? Raleigh’s own PPP–Public Policy Polling.

Take a look at their final PA poll here, and let’s see how they do.

He’ll be at the State Fairgrounds. From the campaign:

The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. See details of ticket distribution locations and times below.

Following the town hall in Raleigh, Obama will host a rally in Greenville Thursday afternoon.

Thursday, April 17

TOWN HALL MEETING WITH BARACK OBAMA
The Kerr Scott Building
1025 Blue Ridge Road
Raleigh, NC

Ticket Distribution Location
Obama for America Raleigh Headquarters
130 E. Morgan St. Raleigh, NC
Wednesday, April 16 from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM

***For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal belongings. No signs or banners permitted.***

The Raleigh Planning Department, knee-deep into writing a new comprehensive plan, is open to our biggest, baddest, baldest ideas for fashioning a great 21st century city. So they say. Dust ‘em off, shine ‘em up, and bring them to Tir Na Nog on Monday, April 21. More below, from Kris Larsen —

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