"Sen. Barack Obama today picked up the endorsement of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), giving the Illinois Democrat a key boost as he and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) head into their final week of campaigning before the potentially crucial "Super Tuesday" presidential primaries on Feb. 5.

In a speech at American University in Washington, Kennedy, 75, a 45-year veteran of the Senate and a standard-bearer for liberal Democrats, joined his niece, Caroline Kennedy, and his son, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I.), in publicly backing Obama for the party's nomination.

The three Kennedys, taking turns speaking at a lectern bearing the slogan, "Change We Can Believe In," invoked the inspiration of former President John F. Kennedy in supporting the candidacy of Obama, a first-term senator who seeks to become the nation's first African American president.

Addressing a cheering, overflow crowd in the university's Bender Arena, Sen. Kennedy hailed Obama as a candidate who "has lit a spark of hope amid the fierce urgency of now." Calling on Americans to "have the courage to choose change," he declared: "It is time again for a new generation of leadership! It is time now for Barack Obama!"

In accepting the endorsements, Obama told the crowd: "We will change the course of history. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

The endorsement by the senior senator from Massachusetts was widely seen as important for Obama because it gives him the imprimatur of a major leader of the Democratic establishment.

But it also highlights a split in one of America's most politically prominent families, reflecting the division and uncertainty in the establishment as the race for the Democratic nomination heats up. Another of Kennedy's nieces, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former Democratic lieutenant governor of Maryland, is supporting Clinton. So is a nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading environmental activist.

Aides to Clinton, who was campaigning today in Connecticut and Massachusetts, said endorsements matter much less than delegates to the Democratic convention.

Lagging behind in both has been former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who finished a disappointing third on Saturday in the Democratic primary in South Carolina, the state of his birth. Obama scored a resounding victory there, setting up a high-stakes clash with Clinton in the more than 20 states that hold nominating contests on Feb. 5.

In the Republican race, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona continued to hammer away at each other today as they stump for votes in tomorrow's Florida primary. Polls show the two running neck and neck in the state, with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) trailing far behind.

At American University, Sen. Kennedy revved up the crowd, most of them students, shouting: "I feel change in the air! What about you?"

He praised Clinton and Edwards and pledged his "enthusiastic support" to the eventual Democratic nominee, whoever that may be.

"Let there be no doubt, we are all committed to seeing a Democratic president in 2008," he said. "But I believe there is one candidate who has the extraordinary gift of leadership and character matched to the extraordinary demands of this moment in history."

He said Obama "will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past," adding that "he generates new hope that our greatest days as a nation are still ahead."

Caroline Kennedy said people often tell her that "they wish they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way they did when my father was president." Now, there is "one candidate who offers that same sense of hope and inspiration," she said. "I'm proud to endorse Senator Barack Obama for president of the United States."

Reflecting the 46-year-old senator's popularity among young Americans, she told the crowd that her three children "were the first people who made me realize that Barack Obama is the president we need." Kennedy, 50, has a son and two daughters ranging in age from 15 to 19.

Obama told the crowd that he, too, was inspired by John F. Kennedy, although he said he was too young to remember the former president, who was assassinated when Obama was 2 years old. He said his candidacy appeals to people who are "tired of the politics that divides us" and who yearn to "capture the common sense of purpose we had when John F. Kennedy was president."

Obama declared: "That is the dream we hold in our hearts, that is the kind of leadership we long for in this country, and that is the kind of leadership I intend to offer as president of the United States of America."

At campaign stops in Florida, meanwhile, Romney and McCain accused each other of being liberals and touted their own leadership qualities.

Speaking to campaign workers in West Palm Beach early today, Romney said: "Senator McCain . . . is a terrific person, but as he's pointed out several times, he doesn't understand the economy terribly well. And I frankly can't imagine how you have a president of the United States who doesn't understand how the economy works."

Romney, a former CEO of a Boston management consulting firm and former governor of Massachusetts, urged voters to "make sure that you have a president who's actually had a job in the private sector and knows how the private sector works."

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has said in response to such criticism: "I didn't manage for profit; I led for patriotism."

At a rally in Jacksonville today, McCain stressed his national security credentials. "Yes, the economy is important . . . and I have led in managing the economy of this country, and I'm proud to have been part of the Reagan revolution that began the longest period of prosperity in American history," he said. "And I led and I didn't manage. But the point is that our nation's security is our foremost obligation to our people. We all know that."

With no clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, Florida's closed, winner-take-all primary looms as a key test, offering a rich harvest of convention delegates to the victor.

It is particularly crucial for Giuliani, who has staked his campaign on a win in Florida, investing much of his budget and nearly 60 days of his time in the state. But the latest polls show him trailing by double digits.

Asked in a CBS "Early Show" interview whether he had any regrets about his strategy, Giuliani expressed confidence.

"The only numbers I'm concerned about are on Election Day," he said. "I think the fact that we spent so much time here will help us a lot on Election Day, because there's a lot of early voting that's going on. So I think we're going to do very well in Florida." He added, "We're making our stand here in Florida, and we're going to win."

For the Democrats, the Sunshine State's primary currently means little because the Democratic National Committee last summer stripped Florida and Michigan of their nominating convention delegates as punishment for moving up their contests to January. As a result, Democratic candidates have pledged not to compete in Florida.

But Clinton, who won earlier this month in Michigan as the only candidate on the ballot, urged the party Friday to reinstate delegates in both states and count them at the Democratic convention in Denver in late August." (William Branigin, The Washington Post, January 28, 2008)