The Wall Street Journal-20080129-Campaign -08- Obama Gets Help for Multistate Battle

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Campaign '08: Obama Gets Help for Multistate Battle

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With a recent flood of top-drawer endorsements, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is adding a layer of campaign help that could affect his fortunes in the Super Tuesday presidential election showdown on Feb. 5.

With the public endorsement yesterday by three members of the Kennedy clan, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the expected endorsement today by nationally known Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Mr. Obama is starting to rival the sort of establishment support that has proven a potent weapon for rival Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Mrs. Clinton has relied on use of heavyweight campaign surrogates like her husband and daughter, allowing her to spread her influence without physically being present. Last week she ducked out of South Carolina with an election imminent, leaving the campaign to her husband and daughter. That capability becomes especially important ahead of Super Tuesday when voters in a whopping 22 states will cast ballots.

The former first lady's most potent surrogates are Bill and Chelsea Clinton, who can draw large crowds in their own right. With the exception of Oprah Winfrey, who has been used sparingly, Mr. Obama has faced something of a deficit of heavyweight campaigners.

Obama unquestionably gets closer with the addition of Sen. Kennedy, along with niece Caroline Kennedy and Rep. Patrick Kennedy. Ms. Kennedy wrote a recent opinion piece saying Mr. Obama reminded her of her father, former President John Kennedy.

All three Kennedy clan members appeared on stage with Mr. Obama in Washington yesterday before a boisterous crowd of several thousand. His voice often drowned out by cheering, Mr. Obama said, "I know what your support means. I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of the American people."

Political operatives in the campaign say Mr. Obama intends to make the most of their support. Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, is in his ninth term in the Senate and represents a powerful wing of the Democratic Party that until recently has been mostly the province of Mrs. Clinton. Mr. Kennedy, who serves on several powerful committees and is chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, has endorsed several Democratic candidates over the years, many of whom, such as Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry, went on to win the nomination.

An Obama staffer said Mr. Kennedy will be dispatched to the West Coast, where his long-held stances on immigration issues are expected to play well with Latino audiences. Today Mr. Obama will travel to Kansas, also a Super Tuesday state, for an expected campaign rendezvous with Gov. Sebelius, a popular party figure who was picked last night to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to President Bush's State of the Union address.

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T.W. Farnam contributed to this article.