The Associated Press has learned that former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton is backing Barack Obama in an endorsement that could boost the Democratic presidential hopeful's national security standing.
Hamilton, who was vice chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, says Obama champions the politics of consensus and not of partisan division. In an interview, Hamilton said he thinks the Illinois senator is "driven by the search for the common good."
Hamilton planned to announce the endorsement Wednesday.
The former Indiana lawmaker served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee during his more than three decades in Congress and is best known as vice chairman of the panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Hamilton also was co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission that assessed U.S. policy in Iraq.