Maria Shriver endorses Barack Obama

Via the L.A. Times blog

In a dramatic moment at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, California First Lady Maria Shriver just strode out onto a stage that had already seen its share of celebrities — Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder among them — and announced that she was joining the Kennedy half of the family backing Barack Obama, reports our colleague Mark Z. Barabak, who is there.

More details will be posted shortly and in tomorrow’s print edition, but Shriver reportedly was waiting backstage wavering over whether she should make her support public, and then finally strode out on stage. Her husband, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, earlier this week announced his endorsement for Sen. John McCain.

Demetrius and I just happened to have the television on to watch Michelle Obama’s speech–she’s awesome, by the way–so we actually saw when Ms. Shriver was announced and stepped out on stage. I did not see that coming. I imagine there will be a fair bit of news coverage of this tomorrow in California.