HALPERIN'S TAKE: Questions About Edwards' Endorsement of Obama

1. Would Edwards consider being on an Obama-Edwards ticket, although he ruled out such a thing a few weeks ago?

2. What will Elizabeth Edwards do — or will she do nothing?

3. How many hours and hours of cable TV coverage in the next two days will be devoted to speculation about whether the endorsement will help Obama with white, working-class voters?

4.Why did he wait until after his endorsement could have been of use to Obama in states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, and North Carolina?

5. How did Edwards overcome his reservations about Obama — or did Clinton do something to alienate him?

6. Will this make it more or less likely that Clinton quits the race before June 4?

7. When was the last time Edwards and Hillary Clinton talked?

8. . What does Hillary Clinton think of Edwards now?

9. What does Bill Clinton think of Edwards now?

10. Did Edwards have the courage to tell Hillary Clinton he was doing this?

11. Did Obama make any commitments to Edwards about poverty, health care, the ticket, attorney general— or anything else?

12. How does Edwards envision an Obama presidency (specifically)?

13. At what point did the media stop viewing Edwards as an ambitious-but-artificial- former-senator/presidential hopeful and start viewing him as a serious player on the Kennedy-Gore endorsement spectrum?

14. Will uncommitted superdelegates and/or uncommitted labor unions consider this a powerful signal to follow suit?

15. Has this effectively negated Clinton's massive West Virginia victory, halting her 21-hour run of (gingerly presented) positive news coverage?