by Frank James and Christi Parsons
UPDATED
The Obama campaign continues to try to steal the Clinton campaign’s thunder days after Sen. Hillary Clinton won a surprise victory in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire Primary.
The endorsement of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano today doesn’t hurt toward that end, especially as the campaigns turn their focus toward the western states and the Nevada caucuses.
Napolitano, one of the nation’s higher profile governors, says she thinks both Clinton and Obama are “eminently qualified individuals” who bring “a lot of talent” to the table. Either one would serve well as president, she said.
“In my view it wasn’t about gender, nor was it about race,” Napolitano said in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. She said she chose Obama “because this is fundamentally about change.”
It’s worth noting that Napolitano is the chief executive of a historically Republican state that has been trending towards Democrats.
The news of the Napolitano endorsement comes a day after Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Obama. That, in turn, came a day after the Culinary Workers Union, with 60,000 members in Las Vegas’s hotels, gave Obama a large boost ahead of the Nevada caucus.Obama also was endorsed today by Gary Hart, the former Democratic Colorado senator who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, being forced from that later race because of that picture of him with Donna Rice on his lap aboard the boat “Monkey Business” and the accusations of hanky panky.
The Hart endorsement is interesting because one of the lines of attack that was used against him in 1984 by then-former Vice President Walter Mondale, the establishment candidate, was the famous “Where’s the beef” line borrowed from a Wendy’s commercial that Mondale delivered in a debate that seriously punctured Hart, the insurgent, who had been saying that he had “new ideas” for the the country.
Fast forward 24 years later and Clinton, the establishment candidate, has been using a where’s-the-beef line of attack against Obama, the insurgent, accusing him of not having enough experience and being more style over substance.
Of course, Clinton has gotten some endorsements this week too following her New Hampshire win Tuesday. For instance, Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner endorsed her on Wednesday as did Rep. Shelley Berkley, Nevada’s sole Democratic House member.
Henry Cisneros, the former Clinton Administration, and former U.S. Ambassador Edward Romero, who had been supporting New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, jumped to Clinton yesterday after Richardson exited the race.
But Obama’s endorsements this week arguably have have had more heft than Clinton’s.
Here’s the Associated Press’s story on today’s Napolitano and Hart endorsements.
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By PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president, The Associated Press has learned.
Napolitano planned to make her intentions known during a conference call Friday, according to an individual familiar with her plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because she hadn’t publicly discussed the decision.
The endorsement is a major gain for Obama in his race against chief rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. Napolitano, one of several female governors, is the most prominent Democrat in Arizona and her endorsement could be significant in a state now regarded as winnable by a Democrat after decades as a near-lock for Republicans. The state holds its primary Feb. 5.
Napolitano was elected governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. She previously was U.S. attorney for Arizona during most of the Clinton administration and then served a four-year term as the elected state attorney general.
She is regarded as a possible candidate in 2010 for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican John McCain, though she has been mentioned as a possible candidate for vice president or for a Cabinet post in a Democratic administration.
She was mentioned in early speculation as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004 and made a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention.
A past chair of the National Governors Association, Napolitano has emphasized education and immigration reform. She has set a record in Arizona — where Republicans control the legislature — for the most vetoes by a governor in a single year.
Obama also picked up the endorsement of former Sen. Gary Hart, a Colorado Democrat and two-time presidential candidate.
Hart called the Illinois senator “the embodiment of what is best about our nation” and disputed criticism that Obama is inexperienced or lacks national security credentials.
“Senator Obama’s personal history uniquely qualifies him to restore America’s standing in the world,” Hart said in a written release.
Hart lost the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination to former Vice President Walter Mondale. He sought the 1988 nomination before his candidacy was derailed by allegations of an extramarital affair.