In the short term, it could prompt undecided black and white voters to at least consider supporting the veteran Missouri congressman.

"This is so unexpected," Gephardt joked as Clyburn formally made the announcement Wednesday in a telephone conference call.

Clyburn, the state's only black congressman, said the eight other candidates, including front-runner Howard Dean, had a chance to get his backing, but as expected, he stuck with his close friend from his 11 years in Washington.

"Dick Gephardt was always No. 1 in my heart, and I found nothing thus far in the campaign to remove him from that spot," Clyburn said, adding that Gephardt "is the best man for South Carolina and the nation."

What effect the endorsement will have in a state where black voters are expected to make up 50 percent of the Feb. 3 primary turnout was immediately debated.

Former Gov. Jim Hodges said the impact would be short-lived, as would Al Gore's endorsement of Dean.

"There's this feeling that African-American voters are monolithic and all vote the same way in Democratic primaries, which is simply not true," Hodges, who supports Wesley Clark, said during a conference call with report-ers about Clark's strategy. "They're going to make their own decision about who they want to vote for."

Charleston NAACP leader the Rev. Joe Darby questioned the extent of the impact.

"There are some who look to the congressman for guidance, and there are some who do not," he said. "I think it's significant in the black community, but I don't think it's going to sway the whole black community to Mr. Gephardt."

Darby doubted there would be any backlash for Clyburn's snub of the two black candidates in the race, the Rev. Al Sharpton and former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.

"An endorsement is an endorsement," he said. "They happen all the time."

The endorsement game further escalated Wednesday when wire services reported Andrew Young, a civil rights trailblazer and former U.N. ambassador, plans to back Clark for president. Young is scheduled to appear at a Dec. 21 campaign event with Clark in South Carolina, officials familiar with discussions about the event and speaking anonymously told The Associated Press.

Recent polls in South Carolina have put Clark, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Dean and Sharpton at the front of the pack at various times, while Gephardt has trailed.

Clyburn said he planned to stump the state, including during Gephardt's several appearances in South Carolina on Friday and Saturday, pushing his candidate with voters everywhere.

"I'm not going out here to support Dick Gephardt in the black community," he said. "I'm going out to support Dick Gephardt with Democratic voters all over the state."

Clyburn said Dean's comments on wanting to be the candidate for people with "Confederate flags in their pickup trucks" had nothing to do with his decision.

"His comments about the flag concerned a lot of my supporters. People called me," Clyburn said. "I'm not making this decision on any one thing."

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