Reply #27: WA Rep. Jim McDermott endorses Obama [View All]

[ProSense]

Rep. Jim McDermott on Thursday became the fourth U.S. House member from Washington to endorse Barack Obama for president.

The Seattle Congressman told the P-I's Joel Connelly that Obama is his pick because "I am confident as president he will end the war in Iraq and bring our sons and daughters home."

McDermott has represented Seattle for 19 years and is one of the more liberal voices in the Democrats' 235-member House caucus. He is the last House member from this state to declare his support for a presidential candidate.

McDermott joins at least four other Washington "superdelegates" who have endorsed Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination: Gov. Chris Gregoire; Reps. Rick Larsen, Adam Smith and Brian Baird; and Pat Notter, a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has the support of five of the state's superdelegates, including Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims.

Obama won Washington's caucuses earlier this year.

Ex-President Bill Clinton staged a fundraiser in Seattle in the fall of 2006 to help McDermott pay legal bills from his long-standing civil litigation battle with GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner, which McDermott eventually lost. McDermott said Thursday he had repeatedly tried, without success, to reach Hillary Clinton to tell her he was endorsing Obama.

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Ouch!