Edwards Receives Key South Carolina Endorsements

ABC’s Jake Whitman Reports:  Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards is expected to receive several key endorsements later today in South Carolina.

This morning’s edition of The State reports Columbia Mayor Bob Coble and more than 20 other state and local elected officials will endorse John Edwards’ bid for the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination.

“Edwards is from South Carolina and has an affinity with South Carolina and certainly speaks our language,” Coble told the paper. “He knows what makes South Carolinians tick. That’s an advantage for him.”

This will add to Edwards growing list of Democratic endorsements in South Carolina.  The State says no other Democratic candidate has unveiled a list as comprehensive as the one the Edwards camp is set to release today.

Edwards, a native of Seneca, S.C., has struggled in recent weeks to hold on to support in the state.  State Sens. Darrell Jackson and Robert Ford, two black legislators who supported Edwards in 2004 and take much of the credit for his South Carolina primary win, have endorsed Hillary Clinton for 2008.