Ex-Senate Leader Daschle Endorses Obama

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., reaches for supporters during his first campaign rally in Los Angeles Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian) (Kevork Djansezian - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement Wednesday of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who said the White House hopeful "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."

Daschle said Obama has a "great capacity to unify our country and inspire a new generation of young Americans, just as I was inspired by the Kennedys and Martin Luther King when I was young."

Obama began his term in the Senate after Daschle lost his seat in 2004. But the South Dakotan served in the Senate with several of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Joe Biden of Delaware, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and John Edwards, a former lawmaker.

Daschle said the party was "very fortunate to have an extraordinary field of candidates."