Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder, the first elected African American governor in the nation, has endorsed Barack Obama for president. Here's Wilder's statement:
The outcome of next year's presidential election is of tremendous importance to the long-term future of our country, at home and abroad. Our country is in desperate need of a new direction, new ideas, and new solutions to resolve the circumstances that the U.S. has shouldered in recent years. The situation our country faces calls for a new direction, new thinking and change that we can believe in.Our country needs a leader who can unite and inspire our citizens, a leader who can see things with a fresh eye, and a leader who can move beyond the parochialisms of the past. We need a leader whom people want to rally around with the confidence that positive change is on the way.
Senator Barack Obama brings forth all of these qualities. I am tremendously impressed with him and have said many favorable things about him in the past. I formally and officially endorse him for the Presidency and will campaign for him across the country to the fullest extent possible that my schedule will allow."
That's an impressive endorsement for Barack Obama, especially added to that of Governor Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott. Now, the question is, what impact -- if any -- will it have? Also, how much will Mayor Wilder actually campaign for Obama? That's what I'll be looking for in coming weeks, leading up to Virginia's presidential primary on 2/12.
P.S. Increasingly, I'm starting to think that Virginia's primary may actually matter, in one party or both. We'll see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Hear what Nader says about Edwards at the beginning of his Hardball interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Here are some quotes:
At one point Mathews told Nader he'd "excluded Obama from the progressive coalition." Nader argued that Obama has "excluded himself with statements that he's made, unfortunately. He's a lot smarter than his public statements, which are extremely conciliatory to concentrated power and big business."Nader told Mathews that Edwards "raises the question of the concentration of power and wealth and power in a few hands that are working against the majority of people."
Last Monday, in a Muscatine, Iowa press conference, Nader deepened his support for Edwards. "The issue is corporate power and who controls our political system," Nader said, "and it's not who has experience for six years or two years."
http://www.zmag.org/content/sh...
Now, I'm still mad at Nader for 2000, and he can descend into foolish talk, but we all need to think about this corporate power issue. I'm not saying "vote for Edwards" by any means (my uncoveted endorsement is still unannounced) but if we're going to be good progressives we have to ask ourselves, issue by issue, how will corporate power be reduced in a way that promotes the general welfare.
I have observed that John Edward's angry fontal assault on this truth makes establishment Democrats very, very nervous. They find him "too extreme" and therefore dangerous. Having made their own compromises, because of the DLC and the power of corporate monetary donations to campaign funds, they believe Edwards' nomination would cause all Democrats to lose everything in 2008. That is, Edwards, to the corporatists and their apologists, is to be feared... and, defeated. Even Obama is considered to be safer, as well, of course, as Clinton.
He joined the GREEN party to defeat AL GORE of all people. Think about that for a moment....
Most of the polling in the four-day tracking survey was taken before the Iowa caucuses on Thursday, but pollster John Zogby sees the beginnings of a post-Iowa bounce for Obama and Huckabee.Said Zogby: "We will see more tomorrow but I think we will clearly see them make gains."
One of the biggest stories from Iowa was the massive turnout for Democrats -- especially compared to Republicans. John did some math and showed that even Clinton's third place numbers nearly doubled Huckabee's winning totals. New Hampshire's Secretary of State is predicting a higher Democratic turnout -- and that NH's independents will break by a wide margin to Democrats: 90,000 to 60,000.That lack of enthusiasm among Repubs. seems to be contagious. NH Democrats held a pre-primary dinner last night. It sounded wild. Over 3,000 people attended including leading Democrats. The Caucus has a couple posts on the reactions to Clinton and Obama. But, James Pindell who writes the Boston Globe's Primary Source blog (a great primary resource for the next couple days, btw) reports that the GOP's efforts at a similar dinner were hapless, just like the GOP.
http://www.americablog.com/200...
We're going to have a Democratic President in 2008.
510 sample
Obama 37, Clinton 27, Edwards 19
Here is a link to The Hill newspaper, which is keeping a list Members of Congress endorsements. http://thehill.com/endorsement...
http://fundrace.huffingtonpost...
So you can find out which Hollywood idiot or genius (depending on who you're supporting) is endorsing whom.
The most thought provoking endorsement for me in this cycle is Reed Hundt, former FCC chairman under Bill Clinton, who is backing Obama. Hundt is a super bright person. Few endorsements really persuade me one way or the other, but his does from a wonkish standpoint.