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Jan. 11, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Obama gains Kerry's endorsement

Candidate ramps up his Nevada campaign

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL
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OBAMA, UNION RALLY

Sen. Barack Obama today is to accept the endorsement of the Culinary union at a private rally at the union's headquarters. He'll then host a town hall meeting with members of the public at Del Sol High School, 3100 E. Patrick Lane. Free tickets are required to attend the town hall meeting. They are available on the Internet at nevada.barack obama.com/lasvegasrally/ or by calling (702) 253-2008.


Sen. Barack Obama
New ad debuts touting health care reform

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., believes Sen. Barack Obama has what Nevada voters are looking for.

Kerry, who spent plenty of time in this crucial swing state as the Democratic presidential nominee four years ago, said Thursday that Obama is in tune with the needs of the Silver State.

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    • "Nevada is a state that cares a lot about moving the country forward," he said. With the state's rapid development, infrastructure and energy needs, voters here are looking for a candidate who promises to overhaul the system, he said.

    "Nevada wants change. The whole country wants change," Kerry said in a phone interview on his way back to Boston from South Carolina, where he announced his support for Obama Thursday. "I haven't met anybody who doesn't think things can't be better. People are fed up with Washington, and Barack Obama represents change."

    Kerry's 2004 efforts here didn't pay off. He lost to President Bush by a margin of three and a half percentage points in Nevada.

    Obama arrives in town today as he and rival Hillary Clinton, who was in Las Vegas Thursday, battle for the support of the state's Democrats in the Jan. 19 Nevada caucuses.

    Both are saturating television airwaves with commercials, all of them positive messages so far. Obama on Thursday put another ad into his rotation, "Moment," which intersperses footage of a well-received speech the Illinois senator gave in Des Moines with quotations from news headlines, including one in the Review-Journal, attesting to his message.

    The 60-second ad, versions of which have aired elsewhere, will run alongside a commercial about health care in which Obama talks about his mother's death from cancer.

    The well-established theme of the still-early presidential contest pits Obama's image as a visionary reformer against Clinton's as seasoned and ready to make things happen. Both are using the C-word -- "change" -- nearly nonstop.

    "I don't want to spend the next year, or the next four years, re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990s," Obama says in the ad. "I don't want to pit red America against blue America. I want to be the president of the United States of America."

    Kerry, in the interview, said Obama shouldn't be perceived as naive just because he is preaching unity. "Barack Obama is not just glossy words," he said, listing among Obama's accomplishments ethics reform in Congress and children's health care in Illinois.

    "He knows how to get these things done," Kerry said. "He's also smart enough to see pretty quickly that the place is broken. Some people are trying to reduce his rhetoric, but what great leader has not inspired?"

    In endorsing Obama, Kerry passed over not only Clinton but his former running mate, John Edwards, who insists he still can compete in Nevada despite what increasingly looks like a two-person race. Relations between Edwards and Kerry had reportedly become strained in the years since their ticket's defeat.

    Asked whether he, a senator for more than two decades, didn't represent the very Washington establishment Obama is campaigning against, Kerry said, "Everybody in Washington is unfortunately caught up in the gridlock the Republicans are creating. Harry Reid is our majority leader, your senator, and he will be the first to tell you. ... People understand where the problem is, but a lot of Americans are just fed up with the whole thing."

    Whether the Democrats can succeed this year where they came up short in 2004 "is up to the voters," Kerry said, adding that he wouldn't be surprised if many Nevadans regret their votes for Bush.

    "I do believe a lot of people regret that there hasn't been more leadership from the White House in the past four years on issues that matter to them," he said. "Nevadans in particular," he said, "heard Bush vow to base decisions on 'sound science,' then saw him push forward with the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, despite evidence some of the science was flawed."

    Obama opposes the Yucca Mountain project even though his home state of Illinois would like to send spent nuclear rods to Nevada and the nuclear industry has contributed heavily to his campaign.

    Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.

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    Mark C. Eades wrote on January 13, 2008 12:13 PM: In the bipartisan battle of "experience" vs. "change," one thing seems clear: There is no shortage of experience in Washington. If Washington experience came in dozens, it would be a dime a dozen. Washington experience is what led us into the foreign and domestic mess we're in today. What we are short of in Washington is fresh ideas and unifying vision. Put a president with these in the White House, and all that Washington experience can be put to work taking America in a new direction. This is why I support Barack Obama for president.


    john wrote on January 11, 2008 02:55 PM: REMEMBER THAT KERRY LOST HIS ELECTION.I REALLY THINK THAT SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON IS MORE FOR THE AVERAGE WORKING PERSON.IM VOTING FOR HILLARY.HILLARY HAS ALWAYS FOUGHT FOR WORKERS RIGHTS.IM A WORKER.OBAMA HAS NOT BEEN AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT HE HAS BEEN FOR WORKERS RIGHTS.I BELIEVE HILLARY,BECAUSE SHE IS NOT ALL TALK,SHE IS ACTION. CLINTON 08


    Matt Moynihan wrote on January 11, 2008 01:45 PM: Barak Obama does not accept any campaign contributions from lobbyists or political Action committees. He cannot be bought by the special interest groups in Washington. Hilary has accepted tons of money from Insurance companies, The Coal Lobby, and oil Companies. Come on People! Do you think they gave her millions and didn’t expect anything in return! Do you think that the top 1% of wealthy people in this country care about everyone at the bottom? Obama is a champion for what is right, for change, for unity. He also has more experience than Hilary. 12 years as a senator in the state & on the national level verse Hilarys’ 6 years. If anything he is the man for the job simply because he is a new direction for this country! Everyone in Iowa decided we need change, and New Hampshire was off by only 5,000 votes. Obama is the man we need, Right NOW!


    Matt Moynihan wrote on January 11, 2008 01:40 PM: Have you noticed that the major media outlets aren’t covering the election? Think about it, a week ago you could not turn on the TV, or read a newspaper without reading about the election. This all lead up to the squeaker in New Hampshire where Obama lost by 5,000 votes. The Big News companies proclaimed Hilary the winner, playing up her supposed “comeback”. On Wednesday the story was: “Nothing has been decided” (that’s because they already decided Hilary to be the winner). Then Thursday, practically nothing, today the headlines are about Marion Jones, or Countrywide financial. It is like they want you to forget that the primary is happening! This is the greatest struggle for power in the world right now, and they are trying to make America forget that it is happening now.


    jj wrote on January 11, 2008 12:46 PM: is this the "kiss of death" for obama?


    Gavin C. wrote on January 11, 2008 11:11 AM: "Elect Obama and there will be an uprising of the black race. They will think that they are entitled simply because of their color." Another coward hiding behind a keyboard. Why don't you move to Antartica so nobody can bother you.


    sadX10 wrote on January 11, 2008 10:47 AM: Obama opposes the Yucca Mountain project even though his home state of Illinois would like to send spent nuclear rods to Nevada and the nuclear industry has contributed heavily to his campaign.
    Face it there still is no knight in shining armor running for President.


    Me wrote on January 11, 2008 10:47 AM: Elect Obama and there will be an uprising of the black race. They will think that they are entitled simply because of their color.


    KZ wrote on January 11, 2008 10:37 AM: AFTER KERRY'S WIFE BEING SUCH A SREWBALL NUT CASE WHY WOULD BAMA WANT ANY ASSOCIATION W/ KERRY ? ITS ONLY GOING TO HURT HIM


    Maite wrote on January 11, 2008 07:53 AM: Clinton has taken $567,950 from lobbyists. Obama has taken $76,859. Who do you think will stand with the unions, Clinton, beholden to corporations, or Obama, who has walked picket lines with union members?


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