John Edwards dropped out of the Democratic presidential contest today, but without endorsing either Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

“Some of the Edwards faithful wondered quietly whether he might be offered a prime Cabinet position in an eventual Democratic administration,” reports William Branigin in the Washington Post. And Robert Novak says that Edwards will be named attorney general in an Obama administration, “according to Illinois Democrats close to Obama.”

Of course, even though Edwards did not endorse when he announced his withdrawal today, he could still endorse on another occasion, which would give him two bites at the apple, as it were. If he endorses one of his rivals, my guess is that he’ll endorse Obama rather than Clinton.

But the bigger question still is whether Edwards supporters in Super Tuesday primary states will follow his lead and vote for the candidate he endorses, if he does, or to which candidate they go, even if he does not endorse.

There is no doubt, however, that Edwards’ rather sudden and unexpected withdrawal will alter the campaign landscape. “Edwards’ Super Tuesday strategy of focusing on states in the South and with significant rural populations seemed to make Obama’s path rather than Clinton’s more difficult over the coming weeks,” writes Chris Cillizza on his campaign blog (The Fix) on the Washington Post website this morning. “Edwards’ departure also likely means a further coalescing of the anti-Clinton vote behind Obama — although it is clear from recent votes that process was already well under way,” opines Cillizza.