How Edwards Helps Obama

A reader's thesis:

Edwards dropped out the day after Florida, not yesterday or the day before. It steps on Hillary's Florida spin. But endorsing Obama today would be too transparent...plus it'd give up the opportunity to have some influence on another news cycle later in the week. Edwards dropping out now is a huge boost for Obama. In the big states like California and New York, Edwards cuts into Obama's base. Obama is going to win the rural states anyway, as evidenced by Iowa, rural Nevada, and rural New Hampshire (the western part, away from the Mass border) which all voted for Obama. This is bad news for American because Edwards had important things to say, but it's good news for the Obama campaign...