Trippi Sees Floodgates Opening For Superdelegates After Edwards Endorsement of Obama

I asked Joe Trippi, a former senior adviser to John Edwards, why the North Carolina senator decided to endorse Barack Obama today.

He said he didn't know the motivations. He wanted to talk impact.

"I don't know why, I just know it's big," he said. "I don't know what other endorsement you'd really want right now. He is Mr. Blue Collar. His whole life has been fighting for blue-collar people."

Trippi argued that Obama should ask Edwards to campaign for him in Kentucky, and help him connect with working-class, white voters. But said the move would help end the primary in any case. "It will open the floodgates" of superdelegates to Obama, Trippi said, because the endorsement was a sign for "everyone to get off the sidelines."

Trippi said the endorsement also freed up any reluctant Edwards-committed delegates or donors to now go for Obama.