This morning, before a crowd of roughly 100 Iowans at Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, one of Iowa’s youngest congressmen was the first from Iowa to offer an endorsement of a presidential candidate. Congressman Bruce Braley publicly announced his support for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Following the event, Braley, an Edwards activist in 2004, said he was happy to endorse the Democratic candidate and explained the timing.

“I represent the First District of Iowa and I wanted to make sure that the people in the First District had the opportunity to meet the Democratic candidates and make up their own minds,” he said. “I was trying to make sure that I had a clear distinction between the stances of all the candidates and I had also told all of them that I would not be making an endorsement decision until after Thanksgiving. I’ve been very focused on my job in Washington and I’ve not had the time to sit back and reflect on this important decision.”

According to Edwards, the Braley endorsement was “heavily courted” by the candidates in the Democratic field.