The Ed in '08 chairman told ABC News:
My reasons are that the party needs to get on right now with a lot of business, including figuring out what to do with Michigan and Florida. It's important to make known right now not only my vote but as many superdelegates as possible.
Asked if this endorsement was a problem for Ed in '08, he said:
My partner here, Marc Lampkin is a Bush Republican, a McCain Republican, so we are still one Democrat and one Republican who will be working even handedly.
ABC News implied that his motives might not have been entirely pure:
By making his announcement, Romer may have enhanced his clout in an Obama White House. Plouffe said the Obama campaign will seek the counsel and advice of Romer on education issues.
"Secretary Romer" doesn't have a bad ring to it--though he'll be disappointed to discover that the U.S. Department of Education's discretionary budget is much, much smaller than Ed in '08's $60-million bank account.