Elizabeth Edwards prefers Clinton's health care plan, but stops short of endorsement

Elizabeth Edwards put in a plug Wednesday for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan — possibly the closest any Democratic presidential candidate is likely to get to an endorsement from former rival John Edwards or his wife.

Both Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have been seeking the backing of John Edwards, whose home state — North Carolina — holds a primary on May 6 with 115 delegates at stake.

"Both candidates have called John and wanted to talk to him, and we continue to talk to them about what's going on, but we think that what we have to offer them is not so much an endorsement as a perspective on what we found as we crossed the country on what people think are important issues and the solutions that seemed most realistic," Elizabeth Edwards said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

Elizabeth Edwards, who discovered last year that the cancer she thought she had beaten had returned, said she prefers Clinton's health care plan, which would require everyone to have health insurance and offers assistance to those who can't afford to buy coverage.

Obama's plan requires all parents to have health insurance for their children, but doesn't mandate that all adults buy coverage.

"I do think that in order to ensure that we have universal coverage we need to say that everybody has to join, so for that reason the mandates that Senator Clinton is talking about I think will actually be more successful in achieving the goal," Elizabeth Edwards said.

"I think they both have the same goals, I just have more confidence in Senator Clinton's policy than Senator Obama's on this particular issue," she said.