Barack Obama is looking very strong after his big win in North Carolina. 1972 Democratic Party presidential candidate George McGovern has decided to switch his endorsement as he thinks it's time for Democrats to unite and focus on John McCain. McGovern has been with Hillary Clinton from early on and he is a longtime friend of the Clintons. Now he has endorsed Obama simply in order to help his previous candidate to see that the race for the nomination is over and it is time to step aside. Campaigning together for McGovern in 1972 when Obama was in his pre-teen years is an important part of the Clintons' personal history. The 85-year-old may not the person whose lead everybody else is going to follow but he is a historically important figure within the Democratic Party who could ultimately have an impact on many superdelegates for saying out loud at the right time what many people think after the North Carolina primary. There is also a very real possibility that McGovern's defection could hurt Clinton's chances in the South Dakota primary in June if she chooses to remain in the race that long.
While John Edwards is still refraining from making an endorsement, his campaign manager David Bonior is set to endorse Barack Obama today. Bonior has a long political record having formerly been a member of the House of Representatives from Michigan for 26 years. His endorsement is expected to increase Obama's support among labor unions. Obama also got the endorsement of Jerry Meek who leads the Democratic Party of North Carolina. Meek is one of the most recent superdelegates to endorse Obama. Interestingly, even Hillary Clinton got a new superdelegate on board thanks to her performance in the Tar Heel State. Heath Shuler, who represents North Carolina's 11th district in the House of Representatives, had promised to endorse whichever candidate who wins the votes of that mountainous district. Since Clinton got 57 per cent of the vote of Shuler's district, she got the endorsement even if her defeat in the whole state was just as big as Obama's defeat in that particular district.
There are still many prominent Democrats who haven't made up their minds. Senator Mary Landrieu, who is facing a tough re-election battle in Louisiana, promised to remain neutral for the foreseeable future. Some of the Democrats who are running for re-election are understandably afraid of turning off voters by preferring one candidate over the other. But those people who don't have their personal political fortunes at stake like George McGovern are free to urge Clinton to drop out in order to unite the party for the general election. After all, there is a very strong sentiment that Obama's North Carolina victory decided the nomination and there is nowhere to go for Clinton even if she were to do well in West Virginia next Tuesday.
Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe tells that he "can see the finish line", while chief strategist David Axelrod emphasizes the respect for Clinton's right to make her own decisions. Rahm Emanuel predicts that the Democratic Party will have a nominee by the end of May, pointing out to Ronald Reagan in 1976 and Ted Kennedy in 1980 as examples of when the losing candidate in a major party's primaries has caused the defeat of his own party by hanging on too long. This type of rhetoric will be very hard for Hillary Clinton to counter, if she can't present a strategy not just to win West Virginia but how to snatch the nomination from Obama.
0 comments:
Post a Comment