MoveOn endorses Obama

MoveOn.org announced Friday that it will endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for president, adding to the momentum that Obama hopes will carry him past Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

{mosads}The liberal group, with its 3.2 million members, is expected to provide a boost to the Illinois senator ahead of Super Tuesday. MoveOn said it has 1.7 million members in the states in which voters are going to the polls next week.

“Our members’ endorsement of Sen. Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history. Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush administration have left the country desperate for change,” said Eli Pariser, the group’s executive director. “We need a president who will bring to bear the strong leadership and vision required to end the war in Iraq, provide healthcare to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America’s standing in the world.”

MoveOn voters favored Obama over Clinton by 70 percent to 30 percent.

“In just a few years, the members of MoveOn have once again demonstrated that real change comes not from the top down, but from the bottom up,” Obama said in accepting the endorsement. “From their principled opposition to the Iraq war – a war I also opposed from the start – to their strong support for a number of progressive causes, MoveOn shows what Americans can achieve when we come together in a grassroots movement for change.”

Pariser thanked all of the Democratic candidates and pointed out that the group would also strongly support Clinton should she win the nomination.