CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS EYE OBAMA’S COATTAILS

Congressional Democrats are beginning to coalesce around an Obama candidacy as their party’s presidential candidate, believing that an Obama ticket would be more helpful in getting them elected, especially in the so-called “red states.” “Red states” are the states in the U.S. that normally vote for the Republican party.

In the well-connected Hill report by Alexander Bolton, he writes, “Democratic lawmakers are becoming persuaded that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would have a more positive impact on other Democrats on the November ballot than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Obama’s advantage over Clinton would be most pronounced in the Southern and Western states President Bush carried in 2000 and 2004, say lawmakers interviewed by The Hill. In total, 32 members of Congress from these “red states” have endorsed Obama. Twenty-two lawmakers from those states have backed Clinton.