Via Time: McGovern, Former Clinton backer, Urges Her to Drop Out
Former Sen. George McGovern, who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton, is urging her to drop out of the Democratic presidential race.
McGovern said Wednesday he has decided to endorse Barack Obama.
After watching the returns from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries Tuesday night, McGovern says it’s virtually impossible for Clinton to win the nomination.
It would seem that a consensus is building that the race is over. The question becomes: how long until the Clintons recognize that fact?
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May 7th, 2008 at 11:26 am
I agree with your general assessment, but I would not take McGovern’s jumping from the Clinton boat as a real sign of anything.
I had heard an interview with him a month or so ago where he was already basically endorsing Obama without explicitly saying so. The interviewer asked him about his support for Clinton and he chalked it up to an early endorsement out of loyalty and that he was not man to change his commitments lightly.
She will be in more dire trouble if/when folks like Senators Boxer, Feinstein, Whitehouse, Cantwell, Murray, Gov. Kulongoski jumped ship.
She would also be in serious trouble if some of the uncommitteds jump to Barack. Esp: Govs. Manchin and Beshear or some of the high profile senators (Salazar, Baucus, Wyden, etc…)
Yes, Clinton is drowning–but McGovern’s jumping ship isn’t necessarily surprising.
May 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am
I agree. It is just one of a hundred tiny nails for her coffin.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Seems as though Ratoe and I heard/saw the same interview (or two very similar). And I got the same impression: it sounded like “I’d endorse Obama if not for my history with the Clintons.”
Actually, Evan Bayh’s recent “endorsement” of Clinton sounded about the same.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Matthew- Yeah, I tracked it down. The interview was on Democracy Now, 11 March:
Here’s the key quote:
Well, I endorsed Hillary last October. And I have to say that friendship had a lot to do with it. She and her then-boyfriend, a guy by the name of Bill Clinton, were the coordinators of the McGovern campaign in Texas in 1972. That was a brave undertaking. As Jim Hightower can testify, trying to sell George McGovern in Texas in 1972 was a daunting task. They worked their fannies off for me in ’72 all across that state. And so, when she decided to run for president, in a sense, it was kind of a “It’s my turn now.”
I have to tell you this, Jim, that I have ten grandchildren. All ten of them are working for Barack Obama. That’s an indication of the influence I have in my own family. I’ve got three daughters and one son. They’re all working for Barack. So I’m the old fogey in the McGovern family this year, unlike ’72, when I was way out in front.
But I agree with everything Jim Hightower said here, that Barack Obama has touched on a theme and a style and a content to his program that has brought millions of new people into the fold. That’s precisely what I did in 1972.
Amy Goodman followed up with “Who would you endorse now”?
GEORGE McGOVERN: I would stay with Hillary. I don’t change my mind on things like this in the middle of the battle. I made the decision to back her, and I’ll stay with her. I don’t want to be jumping around from one candidate to another. And as I said, we’ve got two excellent candidates here, both well qualified. And I’ll be out campaigning for whichever one wins. Am I ducking your question? Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
GEORGE McGOVERN: Because I want to stay with the person I chose six months ago.
On the Byah thing, the only time I heard him, he was vocally defending her on the gas tax insanity. I couldn’t imagine McGovern hurting his credibility by doing something like that. That’s probably why he jumped ship–an honorable guy like McGovern could only hold his nose so long in the face of Hillary’s mendacity.