by Mike Dorning and Michael Martinez
CHARLESTON, S.C.—Democratic 2004 presidential nominee John Kerry endorsed Barack Obama Thursday as the candidate who “can be, will be, and should be the next president,” providing the Illinois senator a public affirmation from a well-established party leader at a moment when rival Hillary Clinton is questioning Obama’s seasoning and trying to build momentum from her New Hampshire primary win.
Support from the party’s past nominee is of uncertain value. Many Democratic activists were disappointed in Kerry for waging a presidential campaign they consider strategically flawed. And 2000 nominee Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean four years later just before Dean imploded with a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses.
But Obama’s campaign advisers have long calculated that the large African-American electorate in South Carolina’s upcoming Democratic primary will swing heavily toward him if they can be persuaded that his race will not be a barrier to election.
Kerry supplies a vote of confidence in Obama from a prominent political veteran as well as a big event at a time when the Obama campaign would like to shift focus away from his loss in the New Hampshire primary.
As New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson dropped out of the race, Clinton secured the backing of two prominent Hispanics that previously had supported Richardson: former Clinton Administration Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros and former U.S. Ambassador to Spain Edward Romero.
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Latinos are a large and growing population in Nevada that the major presidential candidates are targeting in the caucuses to be held there next week. Kerry had spoken with Obama during the days before the Iowa caucuses about the endorsement but left the timing of the announcement up to the presidential campaign, said a source close to the Massachusetts senator. That suggests Kerry’s backing was held in reserve to generate buzz just as the struggle for the nomination shifts to a rapid succession of contests that place a premium on money and momentum.
The endorsement represents a rebuke to John Edwards, who was Kerry’s running mate in 2004 but whose relationship with Kerry soured quickly in the campaign. Edwards, who finished a distant third in New Hampshire, won the 2004 primary in South Carolina but has been trailing both Obama and Clinton in polls in the state this time.
“Our country and our party are stronger because of John’s service, and I respect his decision,” Edwards said, reacting to the Kerry’s endorsement. “When we were running against each other and on the same ticket, John and I agreed on many issues. I continue to believe that this election is about the future, not the past.”
Speaking in a courtyard shaded by Spanish Moss and Live Oaks in Charleston’s antebellum historic district, Kerry took direct aim at criticism from Clinton that her lengthier experience in public life better qualifies her to deliver change.
“Since the birth of our nation, change has been won by young presidents and young leaders,” Kerry said, noting that Thomas Jefferson was 33 when he wrote the Declaration of Independence and that Martin Luther King was 26 when he led the Montgomery bus boycott and 34 when led the civil rights’ movement’s March on Washington.
“When we choose a president we are electing judgment and character, not years on this earth,” Kerry said.
Kerry helped introduce Obama to the nation by choosing Obama, who was then a state senator running for the U.S. Senate to deliver a keynote speech to the 2004 Democratic Convention that helped catapult Obama to prominence.
Kerry’s support now could provide considerable practical benefits to Obama’s political organization.
The former presidential candidate maintains an email list of more than 3 million supporters that he successfully used to raise substantial amounts of money for congressional candidates in the 2006 election. Kerry may now rally them to give to Obama. He also maintains ties to a national nework of political operatives and donors whom he could encourage to assist Obama.