ABC News is reporting that John Edwards is seriously considering an endorsement of Senator Hillary Clinton. He met with Clinton secretly recently and was supposed to meet with Obama on Monday but that meeting was cancelled at the last minute.

As he weighs a possible endorsement in the Democratic race, former Sen. John Edwards is as split as the party he once hoped to lead — and is seriously considering supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, despite the sharp criticism he leveled at her on the campaign trail, according to former aides and advisers.

n deciding between his one-time rivals, Edwards appears deeply divided. Several former advisers likened his thought process to a heart-versus-head split — with his heart favoring Sen. Barack Obama’s strong message of change, and his head attracted to Clinton’s tested nature and commitment to tough fights.

Though he sometimes aligned himself with Obama — and against Clinton — as a candidate, several Edwards campaign insiders say the former senator began to sour on Obama toward the end of his own campaign, and ultimately left the race questioning whether Obama had the toughness needed to prevail in a presidential race.

Reports are Hillary Clinton secretly met with John Edwards thursday in Chapel Hill. Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with him tomorrow.

From Politico former Governor George Pataki has endorsed John McCain. More at CNN.

Early on much was made of Senator Hillary Clinton’s relationship with conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Last week much was also assumed by Murdoch’s paper The New York Post endorsing Barack Obama. Was it a sign of a breach in their relationship? Was it Murdoch’s personal belief that Republicans would have a better chance running against a perceived lightweight in Obama? Nobody really knows but there is plenty of speculation to go around.

David Carr at The New York Times looks over the complex and perhaps unknown relationship and Clinton’s sometimes half-hearted wooing of the paper and its owner.

As a senator, Mrs. Clinton did put time and effort into the care and feeding of the tabloid, making sure that Post reporters had access to news and expertise out of her office, along with the occasional scoop when it suited both parties. But she never once appeared before its editorial board — a customary act of tribute by local politicians — and her lack of deference was duly noted by the paper’s leadership.

Part of the cooling in the relationship, according to people involved on both sides, has to do with the realities of being a hometown paper. When Mrs. Clinton was serving and running as a senator, she had a relationship with the paper. But as her candidacy for president gathered momentum, The Post became just one more part of the media scrum, and the paper did not react well to the disregard.

When John Edwards announced that he would boycott the Fox News Channel debate last spring, Mrs. Clinton went along. Fox News and The Post are corporate siblings, although they’re not particularly close. Still, Mr. Murdoch certainly took note of the fact that the courtesies extended to Mrs. Clinton — a muted presence in the gossip columns of Page Six, more balance in the news pages — did not seem to be returned in kind.

How do we know John Edwards is now being heavily courted by Obama & Clinton? One Joe Trippi told us so. Two, check out the candidate’s Web sites!

Reports are that John Edwards will announce he is dropping out of the race today in New Orelans.

The Associated Press reports that Edwards will not immediately endorse a candidate.

CNN Reports:

A top Edwards aide said the former senator contacted Obama and Clinton on Tuesday, telling them he was considering dropping out of the race and asking them to make poverty a top issue of their campaigns and — if either reaches the White House — a central part of their administration.

Both candidates agreed, the aide said.

Obama made the following statement on the withdrawl of John Edwards:

“John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters – the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington. John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this – that two Americans can become one, and that our country can rally around this common purpose. So while his campaign may end today, the cause of their lives endures for all of us who still believe that we can achieve that dream of one America.”

Clinton reaction:

Well Senator Edwards is a friend of mine, he was a colleague in the senate and I have the highest regard for him, and I’m really admiring of what he has done to make sure that poverty was on the agenda here in America. He encouraged all of us in his passion and advocacy and I hope he will continue that work because it is really important that we stay focused on what we’re going to do to help people.

Today South Carolina Democrats go to the polls.

The site will have live results as they come in tonight, polls close at 7:00PM tonight so be sure to come back and watch the returns.

On Debate “I was trying to represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic party”

Meanwhile Edwards let Letterman mess up his much talked about hair. You can see just that clip below.

If you missed last nights Democratic debate in Myrtle Beach, you missed quite a show. If there were any doubts that bad blood has been spilled between Clinton & Obama, they were removed last night as the pair traded barbs that were emotionally charged and very personal. Edwards, as I noted last night, acted as a free agent spending most of the event attacking Senator Obama with Clinton but at the end he leveled some attacks at Clinton assuring that she wouldn’t walk away a victor.

Here are my thoughts.

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Just watched the debate and though I need to get to sleep (man its late) I wanted to make one point.

It is clear John Edwards is the free agent. He saw blood in the water early on with Obama and he struck. In the ABC debate after Iowa he pounced on Clinton hoping to knock her out. It didn’t happen. He knows he won’t win South Carolina but the plan seems obvious. Pick up delegates and pick off whomever he thinks he can. That means he gets to attack both whenever it is convenient and it makes the debates that much more interesting.

Obviously Edwards is ideologically closer to Obama but is ready to hit whomever, whenever he hears what he doesn’t agree with or what he thinks will help him out. Great to watch!