City Councilor endorses long-shot presidential hopeful
Likely overshadowed by a certain high-ranking state official’s recent endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, local Boston City Councilor John Tobin last month announced his chief executive pick for 2008.
Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s first African-American governor, is throwing his weight behind his former colleague from Chicago’s bid to be the first African-American US president. And Tobin is going with a former city councilor, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
Tobin gave his endorsement on the steps of the State House in mid-October, along with a host of state legislators, his City Council colleague Bill Linehan, Brookline Selectman Robert Allen and former state Rep. Tim Basset.
“Councilor Linehan and I call ourselves ‘Boston for Biden,’” Tobin joked. Polling at 2 to 5 percent both nationally and in the early primary states, Biden so far hasn’t managed to rally a much more substantial crowd anywhere else, either. But Tobin said he respects the veteran senator for his long and storied political career, common sense and integrity.
Tobin said he also appreciates the candidate’s personal touch. The two met two years ago, he said.
“He told me City Council is the toughest political job in America. I thought he was being a little condescending and I said, ‘Well, yeah, the Senate is probably tougher,’” Tobin said.
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Biden has also shown leadership, Tobin said, in pushing for adequate care for veterans returning from the fronts where the US is currently engaged. On the domestic front, Tobin pointed to Biden’s authorship of the 1996 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
“I like a political candidate who you know clearly where they stand,” Tobin said.
In addition to what he repeatedly described as Biden’s “common sense,” Tobin also said he thinks the senator is the most electable of the candidates in the general election.
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