By Jeff Mason
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (Reuters) - Former U.S. presidentialcandidate John Edwards will endorse fellow Democrat BarackObama on Wednesday, a campaign spokeswoman said, giving a bigboost to the Illinois senator in his effort to rally the partyaround his bid for the White House.
Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, dropped out ofthis year's Democratic race in January and was heavily courtedby both Obama and rival Hillary Clinton in the past few months.He will make the endorsement at a Grand Rapids rally.
"I confirm the endorsement" of John Edwards, Obamaspokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
The move comes the day after Obama's blow-out, 41-pointloss to Clinton in West Virginia, which barely put a dent inhis lead in the Democratic race for the right to faceRepublican John McCain in November's presidential election.
Obama has an almost unassailable advantage in delegates whowill pick the nominee at the party's convention in August.
He gained the support on Wednesday of four more Democraticsuperdelegates, nearly 800 party officials who are free to backany candidate, as well as the abortion rights group NARALPro-Choice America.
Obama's camp hopes the endorsement by Edwards, a formerNorth Carolina senator, will help his effort to win over whiteworking-class voters who were among the core constituents ofEdwards during his presidential bid.
Edwards made a populist economic agenda on behalf of lowerand middle income workers a centrepiece of his campaign and hasfocused heavily on efforts to wipe out poverty in the UnitedStates.
Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, wonfewer than one-quarter of whites without college degrees inWest Virginia, exit polls showed, similar to other states.
Clinton, who spent Wednesday in Washington doing a round ofmedia interviews and meeting with top donors, promised to pushon through the last five of the state-by-state contests.
"We don't have a nominee yet and until we do, I'm going tobe making my case," she said on Fox News.
CLINTON IN DEBT
Clinton's campaign is $20 million (10.3 million pounds) indebt but her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said she hadthe resources to compete with Obama and described her donors as"very excited, ready to go and ready to help."
Clinton added one superdelegate endorsement on Wednesday.
A delegate count by MSNBC gives Obama 1,885 delegates toClinton's 1,722 -- both short of the 2,025 needed to clinch theDemocratic nomination.
Neither can win without help from superdelegates.
Obama has been gaining ground among the superdelegates forweeks. He also picked up the backing of three former chairmenof the Securities and Exchange Commission, including WilliamDonaldson, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush.
Obama spent the day in Michigan, where he touted plans fora $150 billion clean technologies fund to create new jobs andpromote fuel-efficient vehicles.
He looked past the race with Clinton to focus on a Novembermatch-up with McCain. He said the Arizona senator "is notoffering new solutions or economic policies that are differentfrom what George Bush has given us for eight long years."
Obama's visit to Michigan was his first trip there since hesigned a pledge last year promising not to campaign in thestate because of its dispute with the national party over thetiming of its primary election.
Clinton won the Michigan contest and Obama's name was noton the ballot. She also won a disputed race in Florida and ispushing for delegates from both states to be seated at theconvention.
Obama has said he wants the delegates seated fairly.
"We feel very confident about our ability to win Michigan.Now obviously because of the whole hoopla around when Michiganheld its primary, my name was not on the ballot and we did notdo campaigning here," Obama said. "That wasn't my choosing."
Five more contests remain in the Democratic nominatingbattle, with a combined 189 delegates at stake. Oregon andKentucky vote on May 20, Puerto Rico on June 1, and Montana andSouth Dakota on June 3.
Clinton is favoured in Kentucky and Obama has been leadingin the polls in Oregon.
(Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan, Ellen Wulfhorst andJeff Mason; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
