Opinion: Another Senate colleague chooses Obama over Clinton

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Barack Obama begins the new week like he ended the last one -- with an endorsement of his presidential bid from a Democrat serving in the Senate alongside him and Hillary Clinton.

A Wall Street Journal story broke the news Sunday night that Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, elected in 2006, planned to announce her backing of Obama on Monday. Klobuchar later confirmed the report, telling the Associated Press that Obama ‘has inspired an enthusiasm and idealism that we have not seen in this country in a long time.’

Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania used much the same language when he declared his allegiance to Obama -- and campaigned with him -- on Friday.

Casey had intended to stay neutral as Obama and Clinton slugged it out for votes in his state’s April 22 primary, But, as detailed in a New York Times story on Saturday, he changed his mind while rain kept him indoors during a recent Florida vacation.

Although Klobuchar’s move is the attention-getter, the Journal story also offers another nugget of news that will bring smiles to Obama backers -- North Carolina’s seven Democratic House members are planning to endorse him en masse at some point before that state’s May 6 primary.

Aside from upping Obama’s tally among the party’s ever-so-important superdelegates, the bloc embrace clearly would boost his chances of relying on North Carolina to stem Clinton’s prospects of embarking on a hot streak if, as expected, she wins the Pennsylvania primary.

-- Don Frederick