Pelosi Allies Give Obama a Boost in California

[jefferson_dem]

Pelosi Allies Give Obama a Boost in California
Susan Davis reports from Los Angeles on the presidential race.

While congressional leaders generally don’t make endorsements in presidential primaries, the addition of California Rep. Anna Eshoo to the list of lawmakers backing Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois today may provide clues to where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaning.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., campaigns, Wednesday, Jan. 30,, 2008 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

Eshoo is one of Pelosi’s closest friends and political allies in the House, as is California Rep. George Miller, who endorsed Obama earlier this month. Rep. Xavier Becerra, hand-picked by Pelosi to be assistant to the speaker when Democrats took control of the chamber, also endorsed Obama this week.

“Barack Obama inspires me. He gives me hope,” Eshoo said in a statement. “He appeals to the best in us, and in doing so he restores the sense of idealism that brought me to public service. He challenges us to dream bigger and reach farther.”

Pelosi, who has already said she will not publicly endorse, acknowledged to her hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, on Tuesday that she was awed by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama.

Pelosi has long-admired former President John F. Kennedy, regularly citing him as an inspiration; in her office, she prominently displays a photograph of herself as a young woman standing with JFK.

“Did you ever see anything like that?” Pelosi said to the Chronicle. “Transferring the mantle from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. It was the most stunning thing. I mean, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. And I didn’t have any time to sit there and watch TV, you know–we had a whole schedule. I just was mesmerized by it.”

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http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/01/31/pelosi-allies-give-obama-a-boost-in-california/