In my eyes the question is not if the junior Senator from Illinois will get it, but when.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) paid a secret visit to his former rival, John Edwards, in quest of his endorsement on Sunday.

The meeting in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Edwards lives, is the latest effort by Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to win "the Edwards primary" — the heatedly sought endorsement of the third-place finisher in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton also pulled off a secret meeting to the Edwards mansion earlier this month. Speeches by both candidates have been including frequent references to Edwards' message about ending poverty.

In a delegate race that's essentially tied, with Obama in a slight lead, the Edwards nod could be very valuable.

Obama's campaign said in a statement: "Sen. Obama visited this morning with John and Elizabeth Edwards at their home in Chapel Hill to discuss the state of the campaign and the pressing issues facing American families."

What I find amusing is the need for this to be a secret meeting at all. Everybody knows that both Obama and Clinton want -- need, actually -- Edwards' endorsement right now to make clinching the nomination quickly a real possibility. If Edwards withholds that endorsement, the Democrats will be facing a race that runs through May or June -- if not the convention itself due to the superdelegates.

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