NYT on MoveOn Endorsement

[GoldieAZ49]

Makes it sound like 70% of all members and another diss of Hillary at the end

Headline email just came in from the NYT

February 1, 2008, 12:11 pm
MoveOn Endorses Obama
By JEFF ZELENY

Barack Obama at the St. Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday. (Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times)
Updated LOS ANGELES – Senator Barack Obama has won the endorsement today from the membership of MoveOn.

In a vote of the group’s members, Mr. Obama outpaced Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton 70 percent to 30 percent. The political action committee of MoveOn.org has 3.2 million members across the country, including 1.7 million members who live in the 22 states with Democratic primaries or caucuses on Tuesday.

“Our members’ endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history,” said Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn. He added, “The enormity of the challenges require someone who knows how to inspire millions to get involved to change the direction of our country, and someone who will be willing to change business as usual in Washington.”

With John Edwards out of the race, and Super Tuesday quickly approaching, members of the grassroots group polled their membership on Thursday and Friday and they decided to endorse Mr. Obama. It is the first time the group has offered an endorsement in a Democratic presidential primary.

So what does this endorsement mean? It is, of course, hardly the type of seal of approval that would rival Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s support for Mr. Obama. But it suggests that many liberals are galvanizing behind Mr. Obama’s candidacy. Mrs. Clinton has never been a favorite of MoveOn and was particularly criticized for her Iraq war stance, yet she still won 30 percent of the vote.

It was unclear how many people took part in the on-line endorsement proceedings.

[kikiek]

1. I didn't take part. But I did drop them.

[GoldieAZ49]

2. Stunning

it seem like many didn't vote, but the article doesn't say it was only a 10% vote of the membership

[kikiek]

5. Yeah. Like the whole membership is going to follow like sheep. Stupid I think.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. If Move On goes negative against Clinton

They will lose a lot of members including me. I will remain a Move On member if they limit their activities to supporting Obama in positive ways.

The fact that they provided no option for members to indicate "Do not endorse" bothers me. The fact that they insisted in conducting most of the voting immediately before the one on one Obama and Clinton Presidential debate bothers me even more. It was a no brainer to at least allow members to view that debate before starting the Move On voting.

[Uben]

3. I didn't vote either

I didn't like the idea of a divisive vote. I dropped them like a rock today, and judging by how busy the unsubscribe page was, they may want to rethink doing this in the future!

[Sherman A1]

7. I skipped it as well,

after I took a look at the concept, I thought this isn't going to come out well, so time to pass.

[Teaser]

4. I wouldn't worry

MoveOn hasn't had a great track record, eletorally speaking.

[Clintonite]

8. I am through with move on. They think they are too important!