Obama Hopes Edwards Supporters "Will Gravitate Towards" His Campaign
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. -- Barack Obama continued to praise John Edwards and compared him to late Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., at a rally today in Minneapolis.
"John ran an outstanding race - he elevated poverty, talked about the working class. He was true to the Paul Wellstone tradition. I am proud of the work that he did and he is going to be working alongside me and everybody else to make sure that we bring about the kind of future we believe in," Obama told a crowd of over 10,000 people.
Yesterday, Obama told reporters in Los Angeles that he is seeking Edwards' endorsement and is going after his supporters. "It's my hope that a lot of them will gravitate towards our campaign," Obama said.
Although he had kind words for Edwards, Obama made several veiled references to Hillary Clinton at the Minneapolis event.
"Now that we have started winnowing down the field, you know, we are hearing all the usual stuff. You know, there's the negative attacks," Obama said.
"There are folks who were arguing, 'Well, he's a follower of Ronald Reagan,' despite this week they are saying, 'Well he's too liberal because he's got a liberal voting record.'"
He also said that the "status quo" argue that he is "a little too black, well he's not black enough."
"There are all sorts of reasons being offered by the purveyors of the status quo as to why we can't bring about change," Obama said.
Obama also said that some expected him to just win everything after the Iowa caucus.
"People thought that, you know, you just win one election and suddenly the status quo gives in, and, you know, elect Barack, you know, immediately we will have racial reconciliation, poverty will be over," he joked, "Nobody will argue any more, your teenage children will listen to you."
"It was useful for us to recognize that this isn't easy," he said.