Gelber steps off sidelines, stands behind Obama

The Democratic leader in the Florida House, Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, just endorsed Barack Obama on his blog at www.dangelber.com.

"It's time to move on,'' Gelber said, following last night's resounding defeat for Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and her narrow win in Indiana. "I want to do anything I can to get people moving toward Obama and worrying about November. We've got to end this current race as quickly as possible."

It will be interesting to see how the Obama campaign responds. Typically it makes a big fuss over an endorsement from a superdelegate -- the campaign just sent out a press release about three pickups. But Gelber is a superdelegate from Florida, a state whose primary Obama discounted because the national party ruled it out and he didn't campaign here.

Perhaps the Obama campaign will use Gelber's endorsement to make a more aggressive push for the Florida delegates to be seated, now that he is closer to the nomination and can worry less about the exact score. Gelber could also be a valuable ally in the Jewish community, where Obama is beating Republican John McCain but not polling as well as Democratic nominee John Kerry did in 2004 (see post below).

Comments

[Ludwig]

Does Mr. Gelber realize that the first thing Obama Hussein Barack will do if elected President, is appease Hamas? God help Israel.

[No More BS]

Sorry Dan, Obama is not a leader. Yes Dan, You are right , leaders tell the public what they need to hear, and yes they never run away from political honesty, but Obama never showed leadership his entire career in the Illinois Senate,instead he voted Present hundreds of times, to avoid being held to a position that might harm his political future. And if thats not enough,what about his representation that he brought healthcare to the children of Illinois. Have you researched Illinois law? Is there universal healthcare for all children in Illinois? There is NOT !Then there is the 20 years that he sat in a church in Chicago , because frankly, it was the right church to be in politically, until it wasn't. Finally, there is the state of Florida, if Barak Obama was so courageous, then why on Feb 6th,Super Tuesday, after all states in the front lineup had voted, did he not demand that there be a new Primary in Florida, to assure that all Florida's votes counted? Obama is nothing more than your typical politician, and to claim otherwise is to be dishonest.
By the way, I am posting here because Gelber censors his own blog and he doesn't have the guts to post this.