Obama Wins Endorsement of MoveOn.org

By JEFF ZELENY and PATRICK HEALY
Published: February 2, 2008

LOS ANGELES — As the Democratic presidential rivals dashed into a final weekend of campaigning before the nominating contests here and in 21 other states next Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama collected the endorsement on Friday of a leading antiwar group, MoveOn.org. He said his opposition to the war would make him a stronger general election candidate.
California holds the largest trove of delegates, but Mr. Obama turned the state over to an army of high-profile surrogates, led by Oprah Winfrey and Caroline Kennedy, who will join together for a rally here on Sunday. Mr. Obama also won the backing of the state’s largest newspaper and labor union, which had been supporting John Edwards.
“I think this is going to be very competitive, but we’ve got 22 states,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference, adding, “And this is, frankly, a delegate race at this point.”
In a speech in San Diego, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said the biggest difference between her and Mr. Obama was in their “commitment to universal health care in America.” Mrs. Clinton would require all Americans to buy or obtain insurance, while Mr. Obama would emphasize lowering health care costs, broaden coverage and mandate it for children — but not adults.
Highlighting a flash point from their debate one night earlier, advisers to Mrs. Clinton denounced a new piece of voter mail from the Obama campaign that criticized her health care plan as too costly. The mail piece includes a couple, apparently fretting over the plan, in an image that Clinton advisers denounced as reminiscent of the “Harry and Louise” advertisement used effectively by opponents of Mrs. Clinton’s health care overhaul effort in 1993 and 1994.
David Axelrod, the Obama campaign’s chief strategist, defended the mailer, saying, “They’ve spent a lot of money in this campaign to distort our health care plan.”
In a conference call arranged by the Clinton campaign, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton, Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, likened the mailing to “Nazis marching through Skokie, Ill.” He added, “I just find it disgusting that this kind of imagery is being used to attack the only way to get to universal coverage.”
A Clinton spokesman, Howard Wolfson, disavowed the Nazi reference and said the campaign did not think it was appropriate.
Mr. Obama received an endorsement from the editorial page of The Los Angeles Times, while Mrs. Clinton was endorsed Friday by the editorial board of The Denver Post.
Mr. Obama also received the backing of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union, the nation’s most potent union. Because of the union’s large Latino membership, the endorsement could prove important. He has the support of another union that is powerful among immigrants, Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers.
The endorsement by MoveOn .org is the first time the group has weighed in during a Democratic primary. In a poll of its members, 1.7 million of whom live in the 22 states holding contests next week, Mr. Obama outpaced Mrs. Clinton 70 percent to 30 percent.
“The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country,” said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org
While Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, campaigned for Mr. Obama in New Mexico, former President Bill Clinton was working on behalf of his wife. At a rally in Arkansas, Mr. Clinton criticized Mr. Kennedy for partnering with President Bush on the No Child Left Behind legislation, saying the education bill came about because “the president made a deal with Senator Kennedy.” Mr. Clinton then quickly added, “Neither one of them meant to mess it up.”

Jeff Zeleny reported from Los Angeles, and Patrick Healy from San Diego. Steven Greenhouse contributed
reporting from New York

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Em destaque: O apoio da organização MoveOn.org ao candidato democrata Barack Obama, por sua oposição à Guerra do Iraque.

Fonte: The New York Times ( caderno National - Politics)
Publicação: 2 de fevereiro 2008
Autor: Jeff Zeleny e Patrick Healy
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/us/politics/02dems.html?ref=politics