I may vomit

WASHINGTON -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama for president tomorrow, breaking his year-long neutrality to send a powerful signal of where the legendary Massachusetts Democrat sees the party going -- and who he thinks is best to lead it.

Kennedy confidantes told the Globe today that the Bay State's senior senator will appear with Obama and Kennedy's niece, Caroline Kennedy, at a morning rally at American University in Washington tomorrow to announce his support.

That will be a potentially significant boost for Obama as he heads into a series of critical primaries on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Kennedy believes Obama can ``transcend race'' and bring unity to the country, a Kennedy associate told the Globe. Kennedy was also impressed by Obama's deep involvement last year in the bipartisan effort to craft legislation on immigration reform, a politically touchy subject the other presidential candidates avoided, the associate said.

The coveted endorsement is a huge blow to New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who is both a senatorial colleague and a friend of the Kennedy family. In a campaign where Clinton has trumpeted her experience over Obama's call for hope and change, the endorsement by one of the most experienced and respected Democrats in the Senate is a particularly dramatic coup for Obama.

"The America of Jack and Bobby Kennedy touched all of us. Through all of these decades, the one who kept that flame alive was Ted Kennedy,'' said Representative Bill Delahunt, A Quincy Democrat who is also backing Obama. ``So having him pass on the torch [to Obama] is of incredible significance. It's historic.''

I do not underestimate the seriousness of this blow to Hillary's candidacy - even if I do find Ted Kennedy to be an utterly loathsome and odious turd.

For the king of America's left-liberal establishment to snub Hillary Clinton for the upstart Obama could very well be the signal that the Democrat establishment has turned its back on the Clintons and embraced Obama. And never forget in the Democrat Party the candidate of the establishment always gets the nomination.

If this is indeed a shift of the backroom allegiances from Clinton to Obama you can expect to see the state party organizations begin to turn to Obama over the next week as we head into Super Tuesday. If this is the case Clinton's candidacy will collapse quickly.