Spitzer To Endorse Hillary, Booker Backs Obama

by: phillip anderson

Mon May 14, 2007 at 10:06:54 AM EDT

Governor Spitzer To Endorse Senator Clinton

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is set to pick up endorsements from some fellow New York Democrats.

Clinton will officially receive the backing of Governor Eliot Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith in Albany today.

The governor has said Clinton has represented New Yorkers well and has "values and strengths that will make her an excellent president."

Meanwhile, across the Hudson, Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker will offer his endorsement to Senator Barack Obama.

Newark's mayor plans to endorse Obama's run

The high-profile mayor of New Jersey's largest city says he endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker said he would officially announce his endorsement at a news conference with Obama today, when the senator arrives in New Jersey to attend a number of events, including a town-hall meeting with union members in Trenton.

"It's time that we have a national leader that's going to raise us around our highest common ideals and remind us that we have more in common as a people than we do that divides us," Booker told the Associated Press.

The latest Unity '08 news from the Bloomberg/Hagel front on the flip...

I like Mike for White House, senator says

Yesterday on CBS' "Face the Nation," Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel suggested he and the mayor team up for an independent presidential bid. "I think Mayor Bloomberg ... should seriously think about this," Hagel said. "He is the mayor of one of the greatest cities on earth. He makes that city work. That's what America wants."

Hagel made the suggestion after sharing a meal with Bloomberg during the mayor's most recent visit to Washington, D.C. "It's a great country to think about - a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up, leading this nation," he said.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser declined to comment on what specifically the senator and the mayor discussed during their dinner at The Palm steakhouse the week before last. He said Bloomberg has no presidential ambitions at the moment, despite Hagel's suggestion.

"It's very flattering," Loeser said. "But the mayor has said repeatedly - as recently as Friday - he's not running for president. He's going to serve out his term as mayor and become a full-time philanthropist after that."

I, uh, don't even know where to start....