Bob Kerrey Endorses Hillary
Bob Kerrey Endorses Clinton
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated one high-profile endorsement, from the Des Moines Register's editorial board, by announcing a second: former Sen. Bob Kerrey, the renegade Nebraskan-turned-New Yorker.
Kerrey told an energetic crowd gathered at a high school here that he was backing Clinton "enthusiastically and unequivocally." The former First Lady stood next to Kerrey onstage, beaming widely. "I am absolutely overwhelmed personally to have my friend of 25 years, Bob Kerrey, endorse me with such a vote of confidence," she said.
Now president of the New School in New York City, Kerry previously served as senator and governor of Nebraska. A Navy SEAL in Vietnam, he was wounded in combat, losing the lower portion of one leg. During his years in public office, Kerrey earned a reputation as an independent operator who followed his own script.
At the podium this morning, Kerrey touted Clinton's long years of experience in public life and asserted she would become "a strong, reliable and compassionate commander-in-chief."
After the event, he mused about her chief competitor, Sen. Barack Obama.
"The fact that he's African American is a big deal. I do expect and hope that Hillary is the nominee of the party. But I hope he's used in some way. If he happens to be the nominee of the party and ends up being president, I think his capacity to influence in a positive way without spending a penny the behavior of a lot of underperforming black youth today is very important, and he's the only one who can reach them."
Kerrey continued, "It's probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims and I think that experience is a big deal." He added, "He's got a whale of a lot more intellectual talent than I've got as well."
He veered back to Clinton: "She does inspire my confidence. She can do the job. In my view she's the complete package." Kerrey was reminded that his 1992 bid for the Democratic nomination -- the year Bill Clinton won -- came two years into his Senate tenure, just like Obama. In retrospect, he said his lack of experience "turned out to be very important...I didn't win, you may have noticed." But he added, "Obama's got the sort of experiences that are much different from mine."
Affirmation this weekend from two institutions of American politics - Iowa's biggest newspaper and one of the Democratic Party's most storied war heroes - gives Clinton an important lift as the race in Iowa enters its final stretch, with Clinton locked in a dead heat with Obama and former Sen. John Edwards, charismatic candidates running on the promise of change. Noting the Register endorsement, Clinton said, "It was an important event in this process and I am very grateful that they have zeroed in on the work that needs to be done by the next president."
The Kerrey endorsement marked the start of a 5-day blitz through Iowa by Clinton and a cast of surrogates, including childhood friends and professional colleagues, as well as her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The senator herself will travel by a helicopter dubbed the "Hill-A-Copter."
"Our campaign is energized, it is picking up momentum," she told the crowd here. "I can feel the excitement growing."
--Shailagh Murray
Taken from washingtonpost.com