Posted on Wed, Apr. 30, 2008

Chandler endorses Obama

By Ryan Alessi, Ralessi@herald-leader.com

LOUISVILLE --

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler said he's ignoring potential political risks to back U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president -- a decision made after months of mounting and intense pressure.

"I've listened to the man. I have met with him and, like many of you, I am excited by his message of change for the future," Chandler told about 40 Obama supporters Tuesday in Louisville. "I made a decision in my own mind that in this place and this time and in this country, the time was right for Sen. Barack Obama."

The endorsement and it's timing could have slight effects on the two major fronts being fought simultaneously in the Democratic presidential primary: the electoral battleground of the May 6 Indiana primary and the inside-the-party race for superdelegates.

Chandler, of Versailles, will serve as one of Kentucky's nine superdelegates who can pick the candidate of their choice at the August Democratic National Convention regardless of who wins Kentucky's May 20 primary.

He joins fellow Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville as the two Obama supporters in the group, with four others still uncommitted.

Chandler declined to say what specifically pushed him to publicly back Obama now -- three weeks before Kentucky Democrats go to the polls and several months after the camps for Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton began scrambling to lock up support of the 794 superdelegates nationwide.

Chandler said he talked with Obama recently for about an hour but denied that he was offered anything in exchange for the endorsement.

"I felt like I had a duty to stand up and be counted. I think the easy thing to do would have been to wait until after the primary election and to wait and see what the voters said in Kentucky," he said. "I just thought the stakes were too high and as a superdelegate -- as somebody that the party decided would need to stand up and take a position, I thought it was my duty to do so."

Three other Kentucky superdelegates -- Lexington lawyer Terry McBrayer, Harrodsburg banker JoEtta Wickliffe and Owensboro businesswoman Moretta Bosley -- are supporting Clinton.

Another three -- Gov. Steve Beshear, state party Chairman Jennifer Moore and Vice Chairman Nathan Smith -- remain undecided. Moore and Smith have said they will wait until after the May 20 election and Beshear has said he's likely to do the same.

A ninth superdelegate will be chosen at the state party's June 7 convention.

State Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat and Obama supporter, said Chandler's endorsement was both significant and bold.

"It has deepened my respect for him," Neal said.

The fight across the river

Chandler said the Obama campaign urged him to leave his Central Kentucky district to make his announcement in downtown Louisville so that the news "would bleed over into Indiana."

Hoosier Democrats head to the polls on Tuesday.

"With the Indiana and Kentucky primaries upon us, there was some thought that I might be able to have some impact on those two primaries in particular," Chandler said later.

An Obama victory in the Hoosier state, coupled with a win in North Carolina that day would make it a "tremendous, tremendous climb" for Clinton, Chandler said.

But key Clinton supporters in Kentucky dismissed Chandler's arguments and shrugged off his endorsement.

"The picture should now be focused on electoral college votes and which one of the candidates is more electable," said Jerry Lundergan, the former state Democratic Party chairman and member of Clinton's national finance team.

Lundergan pointed to recent polls that show Clinton and Obama in a tight race in Indiana and Clinton leading by double digits in Kentucky.

Lundergan, as well as state Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, said on a conference call that Chandler's support of Obama will have little effect on many Central and Eastern Kentucky voters who already have gotten behind Clinton.

"Congressman Chandler already knows it's most likely his congressional district is going to support Sen. Clinton," Lundergan said.

Clinton, in fact, is slated to officially open her Lexington campaign headquarters Wednesday with an endorsement by former Gov. Martha Layne Collins.

The political risk

Chandler said he understood his endorsement of Obama carries some risk to his own political strength considering Clinton's lead in Kentucky.

"It's a responsible endorsement because it's the right thing to do," Chandler said. "The polls have fluctuated in this thing up one side and down the other. I'm not interested in making a decision based on the polls."

He cited Obama's popularity among young voters as a key reason why he chose to go public.

"Now is not the time to be timid. It's instead a time to be bold and support a candidate who can transform our future," he said.

Already, political opponents are seizing on the move.

"This endorsement again shows how completely out-of-step Ben Chandler is with Kentucky. Barack Obama has been outright rejected by Kentuckians in recent polls as he lacks the basic experience to serve as America's commander-in-chief," said state GOP Chairman Steve Robertson in a statement.

And Tony McCurdy, a Republican who is running in the 6th congressional district GOP primary, has scheduled a Wednesday rally in Versailles to criticize Chandler's endorsement.

Chandler, the grandson of former Kentucky governor and U.S. Sen. A.B. "Happy" Chandler, compared the move to his grandfather's endorsement during the hard-fought 1960 Democratic primary of a young Catholic Massachusetts senator, John F. Kennedy.

That was an endorsement "against all odds" and the will of other Kentucky Democratic leaders, Ben Chandler said.

Chandler said Obama is aware of the challenge Kentucky poses.

"He understands it's uphill," Chandler said. "It's going to be a difficult slog for him here in Kentucky."

Clinton's lead in Kentucky makes this superdelegate's decision a risky one

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