All Blog Posts from Horserace

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., has endorsed Barack Obama, CBS News confirms. Clyburn is the highest ranking African-American member of Congress.

Clyburn told the Associated Press that he was calling on South Carolina superdelegates to back Obama, who is now just 44 delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination, according to the latest CBS News count.

Remember James Clyburn? The powerful House majority whip caused quite the stir earlier this year when he publicly flirted with endorsing Barack Obama after pledging to stay neutral throughout the contest. After a few days of seeming to endorse, Clyburn finally declared himself to be “undeclared.” Well, Clyburn tells the Stamford Advocate in Connecticut that he will unveil his pick at 11am Tuesday -- while voters in Montana and South Dakota are going to the polls for the final two contests.

“As the House majority whip, I didn't want to interject myself into the process,” Clyburn said of his earlier non-decision. Clyburn did vote for a candidate in his home state of South Carolina and told the paper, “I'm not undecided, just unpledged." Clyburn should be expected to give his endorsement to Obama. He has criticized Hillary Clinton’s campaign for injecting race into the contest and his home state voted heavily for Obama in January.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn recently expressed concern about Hillary Clinton's statement concerning Martin Luther King Jr. Clinton had suggested that President Lyndon B. Johnson was ultimately responsible for civil rights reform because “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized" when Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The comments and subsequent debate set off a flurry of press coverage concerning potential race and gender divisions within the Democratic Party.

Now Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, says Democrats need to move on.

"I think our well-prepared candidates ought to be allowed to get back to discussing their vision," he said, according to the Associated Press. Clyburn, whose endorsement could effect the outcome of the South Carolina Democratic primary, has vowed not to endorse a candidate. He said he had spoken twice to Bill Clinton and to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama about the issue and was satisfied with their comments.

"I am hopeful that these candidates will be allowed to lay out their vision for our country... and that can't be done if all the focus is on distinguishing factors like race and gender rather than on shared and individual visions" for the country, he added.

Last night both Obama and Clinton issued statements apparently designed to end the controversy. "...when it comes to civil rights and our commitment to diversity, when it comes to our heroes — President John F. Kennedy and Dr. King — Senator Obama and I are on the same side," Clinton said. Obama, meanwhile, praised Bill and Hillary Clinton for their record on civil rights.

Barack Obama has been piling up the endorsements lately: John Kerry, Nevada unions, and now, according to the Associated Press, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and two-time presidential candidate and former Colorado Democratic Senator Gary Hart.*

The formal announcement concerning Napolitano is expected to come this afternoon. Napolitano is in her second-term and is well known in Arizona, and could help Obama in nearby Nevada, where caucuses will be held Jan. 19. The AP reports the pair will appear together in Las Vegas this evening.

Hart, who ran for president in 1984 and 1988, called Obama "the embodiment of what is best about our nation." He said in a release that ``Senator Obama's personal history uniquely qualifies him to restore America's standing in the world.''

Democratic Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, meanwhile, is now weighing an endorsement – one that could factor heavily with both African-Americans and South Carolinians. The New York Times reports that Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, had planned to remain neutral in the race but is now considering changing his mind over Hillary Clinton's comments on civil rights.

On Monday, Clinton said “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ... It took a president to get it done.” She was trying to make a case for what she sees as the importance of her experience and competence compared to rival Barack Obama's uplifting rhetoric. Her advisors later said the comments did not capture her meaning.

“We have to be very, very careful about how we speak about that era in American politics,” Clyburn, a longtime civil rights activist, told the Times. “It is one thing to run a campaign and be respectful of everyone’s motives and actions, and it is something else to denigrate those. That bothered me a great deal.”

South Carolina Democrats go to the polls on Jan. 26th, and African-American voters are expected to be a major factor. “His influence would be extraordinary if he should endorse somebody,” South Carolina Democratic activist Don Fowler told the Times.

*This post has been updated with news of Hart's endorsement.