Obamamentum

Second Sunday update: Obama endorsed by Mrs. Governator--Maria Shriver, wife of the Republican governor of California--at a Los Angeles rally with Oprah, Michelle Obama and Caroline Kennedy.

Sunday update: Reuters/Zogby poll has Obama ahead in California for the first time, 45% to 41%. The two are virtually tied in former Clinton stronghold of New Jersey, and in Missouri.

Saturday update: Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, endorsed Barack Obama today:

Barack is so like Bobby, who struggled for the rights of the poor in the Mississippi Delta and Appalachia, traveled to California to stand in solidarity with Cesar Chavez and farm workers and fought to end another war that cost so many lives.

Today, we crave a leader with vision who can help us regain our lost humanity and rekindle our inherent generosity. With courage, caring and charisma, Senator Obama is leading us toward a kinder, gentler world.

Senator Obama's candidacy sends out "ripples of hope" that can build a "current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." I am proud to support Barack Obama, and look forward to him leading this country toward a brighter, more hopeful future.


After an online vote of its membership, MoveOn.org endorsed Barack Obama. He got more than 70% of the vote. According to the Nation magazine, "MoveOn, which has never endorsed a presidential candidate before, boasts that it has 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states. The group has over half a million members in California alone – roughly one out of ten primary voters in Tuesday's largest state... Organizers said they would "immediately" begin mobilizing on behalf of Obama, leading turnout programs and phone-banking members of MoveOn in targeted states. The group made seven million "GOTV" calls for Democrats in the mid-term elections, and it has an extensive voter file database."

Several unions which had been backing John Edwards moved to Obama, including -the Service Workers Union which endorsed Obama on Friday. Said the San Jose Mercury News: "It's one of California's largest unions: The 650,000-member union's backing could help Obama cut into Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the polls among Democratic base voters, many of whom are union members. The SEIU includes city, county and state employees, as well as in-home support and health care workers."

Obama is moving up in the latest round of polls. The Obama campaign raised $32 million in January, and signed up a quarter million new donors. The more than 1 million a day "is the largest haul ever by a presidential candidate during a competitive primary." Unlike the Clinton campaign, many of whose big donors aren't allowed to give more than they have, Obama donors are largely small and first time donors.

Here in California, the LA Times and the Oakland Tribune endorsed Obama Friday, bringing the total of California newspapers who have endorsed him to 29--with the addition of the Los Angeles Spanish language newspaper, La Opinion. Said the LA Times:

The U.S. senator from Illinois distinguishes himself as an inspiring leader who cuts through typical internecine campaign bickering and appeals to Americans long weary of divisive and destructive politics. He electrifies young voters, not because he is young but because he embodies the desire to move to the next chapter of the American story. He brings with him deep knowledge of foreign relations and of this nation's particular struggles with identity and opportunity. His flair for expression, both in print and on the stump, too easily leads observers to forget that Obama is a man not just of style but of substance. He's a thoughtful student of the Constitution and an experienced lawmaker in his home state and, for the last three years, in the Senate.

In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility. Clinton would be a valuable and competent executive, but Obama matches her in substance and adds something that the nation has been missing far too long -- a sense of aspiration."

The Obama campaign announced that a rally Sunday in Los Angeles will feature Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy and Oprah Winfrey. On Monday, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead will reunite for an Obama fund-raising concert in San Francisco.