This past Friday, Governor Bill Richardson endorsed Senator Barack Obama in his bid for the presidency. Nonetheless, he still claims to be loyal to the family that helped him in his political career, evident in the fact that he had called Senator Hillary Clinton the night before to let her know of his decision not to back her. Richardson’s reasons for choosing Obama are that he feels that her campaign is too negative with too may sharp attacks. He also feel that Obama represents “change” and that important for a “new generation of leadership." Richardson came under attack from James Carville, a Clinton adviser, but responded by saying:
"Well, I'm not going to get in the gutter like that…And you know, that's typical of many of the people around Sen. Clinton. They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency."
There is but a month to go until the Pennsylvania primary, which in campaign times is a significant amount of time. According to pollster.com, Clinton is still ahead, but Obama has started to lessen the percentage. Thus, this endorsement gives Obama plenty of time to use it to his advantage, possibly even convincing others like Edwards to endorse him, as well.
CNN.COM
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2 comments:
I think, as we've discussed in class, that the importance of endorsements must be considered carefully. I don't think Richardson's endorsement will have a large impact on the Pennsylvania primary next month, but I agree that his comments will further the idea that Clinton has gone too negative and feels entitled to be the party's nominee. Richardson brought up the themes Obama has been pushing in recent weeks- that he will bring change and be a new type of politician, while Senator Clinton has resorted to the same old political tricks and negativity. Richardson seems fully onboard with Obama, which is a fact several analysts have predicted recently, despite Bill Clinton's Super Bowl viewing party with Richardson.
I think Richardson likes both candidates, but doesn't want to sit by and watch Clinton go negative against Obama, whom he evidently views as the Democrats' best chance of winning in November.
I believe the endorsement season will be relatively slow and uneventful moving forward in the next few weeks, but if a clear winner is not determined after Pennsylvania and North Carolina, then I'd expect to see Edwards, Pelosi, and/or Gore step up and support either leading Democratic candidate to try to end the race sooner rather than later. As for now, Richardson adds his support to the growing themes of change and negativity that are often being used to characterize Obama and Clinton, respectively.
This was an interesting endorsement. My question is why now? I know he found Obama's speech on race appealing.
Maybe his endorsement will be followed by other endorsements/superdelegates. I've been reading that several the the superdelegates want to remain neutral and that others want to side with Obama, but are being pressured not to by the Clinton camp. Dodd's endorsement wasn't that long ago. I think Biden and Edwards will follow suit eventually into Obama's corner.
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