USA: Barack Obama picks up key endorsement from Kennedys as Hillary Clinton stumps for votes in Massachusetts

Record ID: 590857

  • Title: USA: Barack Obama picks up key endorsement from Kennedys as Hillary Clinton stumps for votes in Massachusetts
  • Date: 29th January 2008
  • Summary: (W5) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JANUARY 28, 2008) (REUTERS) SENATOR EDWARD KENNEDY ADDRESSING THE CROWD AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC3NT1XY6874Q0TFQRGVCJ53IO
  • Story Text: Senator Edward Kennedy endorses Obama's bid for the U.S. presidency as Hillary Clinton campaigns in Kennedy's home state and Super-Tuesday battleground of Massachusetts.
    U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democratic icon and a leading liberal voice, endorsed Barack Obama on Monday (January 28) for the party's presidential nomination, calling the young lawmaker an inspirational uniter.

    "He is tough-minded, but he also has an uncommon capacity to appeal to 'the better angels of our nature," Kennedy, flanked by Obama, said at a packed rally of several thousand people at American University.

    "My friends, I ask you to join in this historical journey to have the courage to choose change. It's time again for a new generation.It is time for Barack Obama" said Kennedy, who invoked the memory of his brother, the slain President John Kennedy.
    Kennedy was joined by his son, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, and niece, Caroline, daughter of the assassinated president. They also backed the 46-year-old, first-term senator from Illinois, who would be the nation's first black president.

    "Its really powerful when you see the Kennedy family altogether represented and that is so much history and so much symbolism for everybody in this country, just sort of see them embracing Barack Obama gives a lot of hope and sends a powerful message, not just to Democrats but to everybody who is familiar with the Kennedy legacy," said Nick Bender, an American University student in the crowd said of the Kennedy endorsement.
    Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, Obama's chief rival, brushed off the Kennedy endorsements.
    She told a crowd in Springfield, Massachusetts "You have the opportunity to ask yourself the two most important questions. Who would be the best president on day one? And who is our best nominee to get elected? Because we've got to win in November 2008 in order to make all of these changes that we care so much about."
    Senator Kennedy, 75, first elected to the Senate in 1962, is a favorite of organized labor and other liberal advocacy groups that helped fellow Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts win the Democratic 2004 presidential nomination.
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