A few days old, but interesting.....my thoughts at the bottom....
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton may not have the official endorsement of Delaware's senators in her race for the White House, but they gave her an unmistakable body-language endorsement during Monday night's State of the Union address.
Clinton listened to the president's speech on the House floor sitting between Democratic Sens. Tom Carper and Joe Biden.
There was chatting, of course, and even a half-hug. For several seconds, Biden and Clinton stood side-by-side, arms slung over each other's shoulders in a buddy pose -- with Clinton's nomination rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, less than a dozen feet away.
As Delaware's Feb. 5 primary draws near, does all this chumminess hint at more definitive support?
Not really.
Carper said he's a fan of both Clinton and Obama.
"I frankly don't care a lot who ends up at the top of the ticket," he said. "But I hope at the end of the day they could be convinced to run together."
Biden's spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, also played down the seating arrangement.
"He and Sen. Clinton just walked in together and ended up sitting together with Sen. Carper," she wrote in an e-mail.
But as everyone learns in junior high, seating preferences and who walks in with whom can have deep significance.
Carper knows this, which is why he tried to get the feuding front-runners to sit together.
After Clinton and Biden picked seats near him, Carper approached Obama and Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who had made news earlier Monday by endorsing Obama. Carper tried unsuccessfully to initiate a political version of musical chairs.
"I went over to Barack and I said, 'You and Hillary should sit together,' " Carper said. "I said to Ted Kennedy, 'Why don't we get them to sit together?' He said, 'No, they're OK. They don't need to sit together.' "
"I said, 'Oh, it would send a great message,' " Carper recalled.
But Clinton, who has received an endorsement from Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, appeared at home in the Delaware enclave.
Biden could be seen hooking his arm in hers at one point, prompting a laugh from Clinton. And when Bush talked about funding hydrogen-fueled cars, clean coal and renewable energy sources, both Carper and Clinton nodded their heads approvingly.
Since abandoning his own presidential bid, Biden has said he would endorse the Democratic nominee.
While campaigning in Iowa last month, Biden tweaked Clinton for a misstatement on Pakistan and challenged Obama's experience. But he also had kind words for the front-runners -- kinder, perhaps, for Clinton.
"Hillary Clinton is truly a friend of mine," he told a group gathered at a United Auto Workers union hall in Dubuque. "We've been confidants of one another for 18, 19, 20 years. We're genuinely friends."
At the same speech, he described Obama and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, also a Democratic presidential candidate, as "good men."
"I don't know them as well, but I have great respect for the people I'm running with," Biden said.
If Biden, a solid party member with strong foreign policy credentials, changes his mind and issues an endorsement, Obama would benefit more from his support than Clinton, said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University in Virginia. That's because Clinton's experience as first lady translates as credible training for voters.
Obama "has to overcome the perception among many that he isn't quite ready to be the leader of the free world," Rozell said.
Carper said he also has received calls from supporters of Obama and Clinton seeking an endorsement.
Last week, he got such a call from former President Bill Clinton, who has called Obama's position on Iraq a "fairy tale." Carper told the former president his goal is to see the duo run as a team.
"He asserted that was his goal, too," Carper said. "I said, 'Let's both work at it and see what happens.' "
On Tuesday, Carper made a gloomy prediction for Edwards' chances in the nomination race, saying, "I think John's going to fade away in the weeks to come and we won't hear from him again for another four years."
Carper, who enjoys bringing people together, said he went to work on Obama in the Senate gym Tuesday morning, urging him to "patch things up" with Clinton when the primaries are over, and run as a team.
During the exchange, Carper said, Obama offered an explanation for an awkward moment that took place just before the presidential address, when he and Clinton greeted other senators but not each other. Obama said he was distracted by another senator and "meant no harm," Carper reported.
"He said, 'Actually, she and I still talk and we get along OK,' " Carper said. "I said, 'Well, you've got to keep getting along OK and maybe even better.' "
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080130/NEWS/801300382/1006/NEWSMaybe it's Carper who is going to endorse? Interesting the comments about Carper, Hillary Obama, and Kennedy at the SOTU...
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