GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - John Edwards may have endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president on Wednesday, but the former North Carolina senator saved his most gushing praise for the likely loser in the White House nominating race: Hillary Clinton.

"It is very, very hard to get up every day and do what she's done. It is hard to go out there and fight and speak up when the odds turn against you," he said.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and vice presidential candidate, told Clinton on Tuesday that he intended to endorse Obama.

Which he did - to applause from the crowd of some 12,000. But a good portion of his words focused on the former first lady.

"She's a leader in this country not because of her husband, but because of what she has done," Edwards said, referring to former President Bill Clinton.

"We are a stronger party because Hillary Clinton is a Democrat."

Whew. Clinton's campaign brushed off the endorsement, which she had also sought. Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, who has praised Clinton's health care plan, was not present and has not backed a candidate.

Obama, who introduced Edwards and took the stage again when he was done, included Clinton in his words, too, and said the election was not about him, her, or Edwards.

"John Edwards and I believe in a different America. Hillary Clinton believes in a different America. The Democratic Party believes in a different America," he said.

Perhaps he's paving the way for her endorsement once he has wrapped up the nomination for good?

By Jeff Mason, Reuters, May 14, 2008