Romney Endorses
McCain; Clinton Suffers More Blows Even as She Wins State

Barack Obama was picking up momentum in a tight Democratic race, as he got the support of an influential backer of rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's and another prominent civil rights leader and lawmaker openly discussed a switch.

Obama also was likely to win one of the most coveted endorsements in organized labor Friday, that of the Service Employees International Union. Clinton notched a minor but much-needed victory of her own, winning the popular vote in New Mexico's caucuses Thursday.

On the Republican side, John McCain took a major step toward winning support of wary conservatives in his party by getting the endorsement of Mitt Romney, his former chief rival and bitter critic in a tense presidential nomination battle.

McCain has been the presumptive Republican nominee since Romney, a millionaire former venture capitalist, dropped out of the race a week ago. Despite McCain's wide lead in the delegate count, he has struggled to win over the party's core conservative and evangelical Christian base -- a voting bloc that has so far sided more with preacher-turned-politician Mike Huckabee.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, endorsed McCain on Thursday and asked his national convention delegates to swing behind the veteran Arizona senator and former prisoner of war.

''Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent,'' Romney said, as McCain stood next to him.

Romney's nod of support capped a bitter yearlong rivalry between the men over the party's nomination. Romney cast McCain as outside of the Republican conservative mainstream and a Washington insider who contributed to the problems plaguing a broken system. McCain argued that Romney's reversals on several issues showed a willingness to change his positions to fit his political goals.

The additional delegates, assuming all back McCain, would put the former Vietnam prisoner-of-war just 63 shy of the 1,191 needed to clinch the party's nomination. He now has 851 to Huckabee's 242. Romney had collected 277 delegates.

Romney will not be able to simply hand over his delegates. Many are from caucus states that will not select the actual delegates until state conventions this spring. Those delegates will be selected by people who supported Romney in the initial caucuses; the direction they go depends on whether they follow Romney's lead in endorsing McCain.

Clinton faced difficulties of a different sort. With added momentum from his string of eight victories since Saturday, Obama has a good opportunity to take weekend primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii, his native state.

He secured two endorsements Thursday and was expected to win another Friday. Former Republican senator Lincoln Chafee, now an independent, endorsed Obama. Also, the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with significant membership in the upcoming Democratic battlegrounds of Texas and Ohio on March 4, threw its support behind him.

On Friday, he is likely to win the backing of the Service Employees International Union, the AP has learned. The 1.8 million-member union would only say that officials will make a major political announcement Friday.

Even as she rallied to halt Obama's momentum, highlighting her economic policies while portraying him as more flash than substance, Clinton endured another blow as one of her superdelegates -- congressional leaders who are free to decide for whom they will vote -- switched sides.

Rep. David Scott's defection and remarks by Rep. John Lewis, a prominent lawmaker and civil rights leader, highlight the difficulty Clinton faces in a campaign that pits a black man against a woman for a historic nomination.

''You've got to represent the wishes of your constituency,'' Scott told the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol. The lawmaker represents a district that gave more than 80 percent of its vote to Obama in the February 5 Georgia primary.

Lewis, whose Atlanta-area district voted 3 to 1 for Obama, told The New York Times for Friday editions that he was also switching sides.

''Something is happening in America, and people are prepared and ready to make that great leap,'' he told the newspaper.

Clinton's one victory of late came Thursday when days of tallying ballots following the February 5 contest in New Mexico showed she won the popular vote there. The triumph brought with it just one delegate, raising her overall tally to 1,220 to Obama's 1,276.

The news injects some energy in her apparently faltering campaign before the must-win contests in Texas and Ohio.

A poll released Thursday said that Clinton leads Obama in Ohio 55% to 34%, with an almost 2-to-1 lead in the state among white voters, and almost as big an advantage with women and voters age 45 and older. In Pennsylvania, which holds its contest April 22, Clinton had 52% to Obama's 36%.

The Quinnipiac University polls in both states were conducted February 6-12 and have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. (AP)