Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor on President Clinton’s cabinet endorsed Senator Barack Obama on Friday over Senator Hillary Clinton in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination. Also two other Democratic elder statesmen, former Senators Sam Nunn of Georgia and David Boren of Oklahoma, also said they were supporting Senator Obama. Reich said in a blog post that "although Hillary Clinton has offered solid and sensible policy proposals, Obama's strike me as even more so." Mr. Reich also said Senator Obama's plans for reforming Social Security and health care have a better chance of succeeding, and his approach to the nation's housing crisis and financial market failures are sounder than Senator Clinton's. Mr. Reich is a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. He ran for governor in Massachusetts in 2002 and now is a professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
A number of other former President Clinton cabinet members have endorsed Senator Obama. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who was U.N. ambassador and energy secretary under Clinton, endorsed Senator Obama in March despite heavy wooing by the former president. Former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, who headed the transportation and energy departments under President Clinton, became a co-chair of Senator Obama's campaign last September. Former Clinton Commerce secretaries Norman Mineta and William Daley also have endorsed Obama.
Former Senators Nunn and Boren will serve as advisers to Senator Obama's National Security Foreign Policy Team. Nunn served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee from 1987-95, while Boren was the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Both men are moderate-conservatives tried to keep President Clinton from going to far off center during his time in office. For a man who has little experience Senator Obama is building quite a solid team. Senator Nunn, who recently flirted with his own possible White House bid, said Senator Obama has "a rare ability to restore America's credibility and moral authority and to get others to join us in tackling serious global problems." Senator Boren, who recently played host to a forum on electoral alternatives, including third-party runs, said: "Our most urgent task is to end the divisions in our country, to stop the political bickering, and to unite our talents and efforts. Americans of all persuasions are pleading with our political leaders to bring us together. I believe Senator Obama is sincerely committed to that effort."
In the Newsweek poll conducted April 16-17 Senator Obama has taken a huge lead nationally against Senator Clinton. Senator leads 54 percent to 35 percent. This marks a big shift from the magazine’s last survey in March, when they were essentially tied. Besides Senator Obama's usual leads among men, Blacks and young people, he leads in this poll among women and older voters and are about even among Whites.
Time is running out on Senator Hillary Clinton. She trails Senator Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes. Senator Clinton argues to Democratic officialdom that other factors should count, an allegation that she's more electable chief among them. But she undercut her own claim in Wednesday night's debate, answering "yes, yes, yes" when asked whether her rival could win the White House. There's little if any public evidence that the superdelegates who will attend the convention, are buying her argument anyway. I don’t understand, it seems to me that if you are more electable you would be winning. Maybe some can explain it to me.
Senator Clinton leads in Pennsylvania polls in advance of Tuesday's primary there, with 158 convention delegates at stake. A victory is essential to her chances of winning the nomination, but she needs to get 65 percent of the vote to do any real damage. Her lead right now is far from sufficient; her 46 to his 40. She will need to follow up with a blowout win in Indiana on May 6, particularly since her aides have privately signaled that defeat is likely in North Carolina on the same day. Overall, Senator Obama's delegate lead is 1,645 - 1,507. That masks an even larger advantage among those won in primaries and caucuses, where his advantage is 1,414 - 1,250. With an additional 566 delegates are at stake in the remaining contests in eight states, Guam and Puerto Rico Senator Clinton needs to win an almost impossible 65 percent of the delegates to draw even with Senator Obama. It's a share she has achieved only once so far, in Arkansas, where her husband was governor for more than a decade. Given the unyielding delegate math, Clinton has relied for weeks on mercy from party leaders to sustain her challenge. And they are growing restless, eager for the epic nomination battle to end so Democrats can unify for the fall campaign against Senator John McCain and the Republicans. For now, party officials have granted Clinton a little more time to make her case, and she takes every opportunity. Eager to capitalize on Obama's comments about small town Americans, she announced the support last Tuesday of Bill Kennedy, a commissioner in Montana's sparsely populated Yellowstone County. Unflustered, Senator Obama countered 24 hours later with an announcement that 25 of the 35 Democratic members of the Legislature in predominantly rural South Dakota were for him.
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