Iowa Rep. Braley backs Edwards for president

Iowa freshman Rep. Bruce Braley (D) announced his support for former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) on Monday, one month before the state’s caucuses, which might be make-or-break for Edwards’s presidential hopes.

{mosads}Braley became the first member of the state’s congressional delegation to take the plunge and endorse a presidential candidate. He was set to make his support official at an event in Waterloo, Iowa.

He had previously raised money for his own reelection bid with Edwards as well as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Edwards is the best general election candidate in the field, he said.

“Throughout this campaign, on issue after issue, John has proposed bold ideas to end the power of special interests in Washington and restore our government to the American people,” Braley said in a statement released by Edwards’s campaign. “John is the only Democratic candidate who grew up in rural America, and he has the most specific, most progressive and most far-reaching ideas.”