I think we have two great candidates. I have such an extraordinarily high opinion of both of them. You watch sort of what's happened in the past, I think that some of the endorsements as opposed to helping unite have contributed to the divide. And what I don't want to do is contribute to the divide. I mean, we had a primary in North Carolina where I live. I live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I voted in that primary. So obviously, I made a choice in that vote. But at least for this moment, I think the reasonable thing for me to do is let voters make their decision.

KING: All right. How damaged, frankly, is your party based on the way this primary has gone and the hostility that has occurred between the two candidates?

EDWARDS: Well, my honest feeling about that is the longer it goes on and -- when I got out back at the end of January, beginning of February, one of the reasons I got out was I thought that my getting out would accelerate the choice of a nominee, would allow us to get prepared for the fall. Shows you how smart I am. It didn't work. It's going on and on and on.

And I think that the length of the primary is not helpful to us. I will say that if Senator Obama, who is certainly the front-runner right now, ends up being the nominee, I think the competition has been good for him. I think he's become stronger and tougher, more focused through the course of this campaign, more experienced in a tough national race.

So you know, there's sort of six of one, half dozen of the other. But I do think we're approaching the time and it's going to come naturally where this thing needs to come to an end and we need to start focusing on the fall.

KING: Are you saying, then, to Senator Clinton face the facts?

EDWARDS: No. The one thing I would never do is say to Senator Clinton, who's a strong candidate, and has as much experience in this as anybody around, what she needs to do. She doesn't need advice from me. She's run a strong campaign. I think she's actually as a candidate become stronger. The odds against her have become longer, unfortunately.

And I think she's in a very difficult place. But I do have to say just on a personal note, having been through this now twice, to get up and go out there every morning when everyone's saying it's over, you're not going to win, you need to get out, and face the media and face the public and continue to make your case.

I mean, this woman's made of steel. And she deserves an enormous amount of credit and admiration. I can tell you she has my personal admiration. But I think the reality is that we have a dynamic young strong candidate in Barack Obama who looks like he's going to be the nominee.

KING: What does your party do about Florida and Michigan? Now, you're going to address the convention in Denver.

EDWARDS: Yes, I expect to.

KING: Obviously, you deserve to. What do you think about Florida and Michigan?

EDWARDS: Well, I think we can't disenfranchise the voters in those two states, particularly in Florida after what happened in 2000. So I think the DNC is scheduled to deal with this later this month. I think they will find some fair middle ground resolution that allows the delegations from those two states to be seated. I suspect there will be some division that slightly favors Senator Clinton but doesn't have a great impact on the race.

....KING: Senator Edwards, would you run again for vice president if asked?

EDWARDS: No. I don't have any interest in it, no intention to do it. The cause of my life, Larry, is to do something about poverty in this country, and I'm going to pour my heart and soul into that. I knew you were going to ask me about this.

KING: All right. Hillary quoting an "A.P" story, questioned Obama, can he do well with white working-class voters. What do you make of that? And can he?

EDWARDS: He absolutely can. I mean, this is a good man who has shown throughout his life that he cares about equality, that he cares about everybody in this country having a chance. I mean, he himself came from nothing with a single mom to being able to do -- to being a nominee now, it looks like, for president of the United States.

And his life story itself exhibits what this country's about. And he absolutely -- the people that I grew up with in small town rural southern America who struggle and work hard every day trying to have a better life, they will connect with Barack Obama when they get to know him and they understand where his heart is.

Here's Edwards Sunday, May 11, on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:

SCHIEFFER: You sort of danced around the question when you were on some of the morning shows on Friday about whether or not you're ready to endorse anybody. I'm not going to try to keep on with this. Are you going to endorse anybody at this point?

Mr. EDWARDS: I might. I don't think it's a big deal, to be honest with you. I think voters are the ones who are speaking in this process. My feeling all along, in addition to what we talked about earlier and me getting out earlier, I hoped would accelerate us having an earlier nominee.

But my feeling is also that I think that my endorsement or anybody else's endorsement has not particularly helped with the divide. And I think that actually endorsements sometimes make the divide worse.

And what's important here is not me or who I'm for or who I'd vote for or who I support. What's important is that we get united as a party behind our nominee, that we're successful in November. Because the people that I care the most about, you know, the low-income families in this country, working families, people who are having a hard time, those men and women who are putting their lives on the line in Iraq, they're the ones that matter in this, not some particular candidate or some strategic position that somebody's taken.

Again, I don't think Edwards' endorsement has anything to do with who would make a better candidate. It's about ending the growing perception that Obama can't win against John McCain because he can't get rural, blue collar, less wealthy and less educated voters.

That perception was magnified yesterday with Hillary's win in West Virginia. There's concern it will grow when Hillary wins Kentucky. Since Edwards (and other Democrats) believe Obama will ultimately win the nomination, Edwards is trying to nip that line of thinking in the bud.

But, isn't this short-sighted? Shouldn't the focus of Democrats be on which Democratic candidate is better able to beat John McCain in November so we can take back the White House rather than on something as amorphous as which one stands for "change" and has "a new vision?"

And I'm still struck by the fact that Edwards gave no reason other than enthusiasm for choosing Obama and made no reference to McCain. Party unity is one thing and it could have waited three weeks. Winning is important too.

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