Lincoln Decides To Back Clinton
Last updated Thursday, February 7, 2008 8:54 PM CST in News
By Aaron Sadler
THE MORNING NEWS
WASHINGTON - Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., endorsed Hillary Clinton's presidential bid Thursday, two days after Clinton's blowout win in the Arkansas primary.
The Clinton campaign announced the endorsement in a news release.
Lincoln did not choose a side in the race before Tuesday. Every other major Democrat in Arkansas lined up behind the Clinton, the state's former first lady, ahead of the primary.
Last week, Arkansas' senior senator said she did not want to be a distraction in the race between Clinton and Barack Obama.
Clinton won the primary in Arkansas with 70 percent of the vote. Obama was a distant second.
Janine Parry, a University of Arkansas political science professor, said Lincoln's endorsement was a safe bet.
"Perhaps the endorsement comes now because the results were so overwhelming, even more favorable for Clinton than the handful of polls we had predicted," Parry said. "(Lincoln) certainly played it safe, at the very least."
Clinton and Lincoln discussed an endorsement on Wednesday.
As a "super delegate" to the Democratic National Convention in August, Lincoln would probably have been pressured to vote like her state's delegates, said Jay Barth, political science professor at Hendrix College in Conway.
"It was clearly inevitable that she was going to make this endorsement," Barth said.
Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1992, the same year Americans sent the Clintons from the Arkansas Governor's Mansion to the White House.
"Now that the voters of Arkansas have had their opportunity to make a difference in this important election year, I want to add my voice to their choice of Sen. Clinton as our next president," Lincoln said.
Last week, Lincoln said all four Democratic senators who sought the presidency had asked for her endorsement. Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joe Biden, D-Del., have both dropped out of the race.
She becomes the 13th senator to publicly announce support for Clinton. Eight are backing Obama.
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ozarks wrote on Feb 7, 2008 9:41 PM: