TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Obama, Clinton Debut Unity For Biggest Donors

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: June 27, 2008

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama told Hillary Rodham Clinton's top financial backers Thursday that he personally has donated $2,300 to her campaign and more significantly has asked his biggest donors to help pay off her more than $20 million debt.

Obama made the announcement at a meeting with Clinton donors who have been frustrated that the Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting had not done more to help her pay the bills even as they are expected to help fund his campaign.

The size of Obama's donation is the most he can contribute under federal law.

He received a standing ovation from the crowd of more than 200 when he said he would enlist his supporters to help pay off her debt, said Tom McMillen, a retired NBA player and former Democratic congressman from Maryland who attended. The meeting was closed to the media.

"It was really about unifying the party," McMillen said.
Clinton adviser Terry McAuliffe said Obama wrote a check to Clinton.

"When the two of them walked into the room, the room erupted," he said. "This campaign has ended. Hillary Clinton has said we've all got to get together."

McAuliffe said that after speaking, Clinton and Obama took questions ranging from helping with the debt to promoting a joint ticket.

The meeting was part of a two-day effort to show unity between the two, who competed fiercely for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Clinton spoke to two trade groups earlier Thursday before she introduced Obama to her most loyal fundraisers. Behind the scenes, the two sides were negotiating the extent of her future involvement in Obama's campaign.

"I am asking you to do everything you can to help elect Barack Obama," Clinton told the American Nurses Association, a 2.9 million member group that backed her candidacy.

"I have debated him in more debates than I can remember and I have seen his passion and his determination and his grit and his grace. In his own life he has lived the American dream."

Clinton and Obama plan to appear in public together for the first time since the end of the primary today in symbolic Unity, N.H. - where each got 107 votes in the state's January primary.

Clinton's victory in New Hampshire set the stage for their long campaign, and it is now a critical battleground for the general election.

In a related development, the AFL-CIO endorsed Obama for president, uniting the nation's 15 million union workers behind the Illinois senator and giving him full access to organized labor's massive bank accounts and political machinery.

As expected, the leaders of the nation's largest labor organization voted unanimously to endorse Obama, freeing the organization and its 56 unions to spend some of its $200 million war chest on his campaign.

"We're proud to stand with Senator Obama to help our nation chart a course that will improve life for generations of working people and our children," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT