Deval Patrick to Back Obama

Governor Deval Patrick, a former Clinton administration official and only the second African-American governor in modern history, is planning to endorse Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential campaign, aides to both lawmakers said late Thursday.

Working on behalf of his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton, former President Clinton, who appointed Patrick as assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, had pressured him to support the New York Senator. But Patrick, who like Obama attended Harvard Law School, decided to support the Illinois senator instead. His backing represents a substantial coup for Obama: Patrick was elected with help from a sizable grassroots organization in Massachusetts, across the border from the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire.

--Anne E. Kornblut