Fmr. President Carter hints of Obama support
4/3/2008 WASHINGTON Speaking to local reporters Wednesday on a trip to Nigeria, the
former Democratic president noted that Barack Obama had won his
home state of Georgia and his hometown of Plains.
"My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren
are also pro-Obama," he said at a press conference, according to
the Nigerian newspaper This Day. "As a superdelegate, I would not
disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that
guess."
Carter's spokeswoman confirmed the comments.
Asked about Jimmy Carter indicating he would go for Obama,
Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson said: "Both Senator
Clinton and President Clinton have a great deal of respect for
President Carter and have enjoyed their relationship with him over
the years. And, obviously, he is free to make whatever decision he
thinks is appropriate with regard to the presidential choice."
Asked whether there was concern that Carter would be regarded as
a "super-superdelegate" in the process, Wolfson said: "He is
clearly a distinguished former leader of our party and is a
superdelegate. And I'm sure that people will be interested in the
choice that he makes. But no, nothing beyond that."
Carter is one of 13 Georgia Democratic superdelegates - elected
officials and party elders who have a vote at the national
convention this August in Denver and are free to support the
candidate of their choice.
Only three of those have not indicated who they support: Carter,
state Rep. Jim Marshall, and former Congressman Richard Ray, who is
president of the Georgia chapter of the AFL-CIO.
Among those who have committed, Obama holds a 7-3 lead.
Carter was in Nigeria for a ceremony celebrating a reduction in
Guinea worm disease in West Africa.