Moveon.org Endorses Obama

By: NGB
Published On: 2/1/2008 1:03:01 PM

This is almost certainly a net positive in the primary, but is it worth the potential general election liability?  I guess if you follow the old saying that you have to win the primary before you worry about the general election it is good news.  

Entire Press Release Below

In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nation-wide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%.

Senator Obama accepted the endorsement stating:

""In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. From their principled opposition to the Iraq war - a war I also opposed from the start - to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change. I thank them for their support and look forward to working with their members in the weeks and months ahead."

Eli Pariser, MoveOn.org's Executive Director, issued the following statement on the group's endorsement:

"Our members' endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history. Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush Administration have left the country desperate for change. We need a President who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America's standing in the world. The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country, and someone who will be willing to change business as usual in Washington. Senator Barack Obama has proved he can and will be that President."

"With 3.2 million members nationwide and over 1.7 million members in states that vote next Tuesday, we'll be able to immediately jump into action in support of Senator Obama's candidacy. We've learned that the key to achieving change in Washington without compromising core values is having a galvanized electorate to back you up. And Barack Obama has our members 'fired up and ready to go' on that front.

Comments



Not a big fan of move on (DanG - 2/1/2008 1:08:48 PM)
But like you said, you have to win the primary before you can even hope to win the General Election.


I'd rather MoveOn.org (Sui Juris - 2/1/2008 1:43:52 PM)
save the money they're going to spend on this endorsement and use it in a post-election capacity to hold the (Democratic) President to account.  Whether we end up with Clinton or Obama, I suspect that we're going to end up rather disappointed with them on some important issues, and we need to start thinking about how to deal with that.


Obama Wins CA SEIU Endorsement (Flipper - 2/1/2008 1:48:18 PM)
The CA Service Employees International Union, one of the largest unons in CA, endorsed Obama today after Edwards dropped out this week.  The SEIU includes city, county and state workers, as well as in-home support and health care workers and has 650,000 members throughout the state.  

http://www.mercurynews.com/new...



This is just further proof of momentum (The Grey Havens - 2/1/2008 4:30:28 PM)
The creative class is wholeheartedly behind Obama.

That's fantastic.

There's also movement in every SuperTuesday state, nationwide, and across every demographic.  The Edwards supporters are breaking heavily as well.

This is extremely promising, but remember Hillary had 20 and 30 point leads for over a year.

Time is not on Obama's side.  We can only hope for more conversions and that the undecideds break with the momentum.