With Obama, Boxer Refuses To Endorse
SAN FRANCISCO — Senator Boxer of California wants to be 100% clear: She has not made up her mind yet about whom she will endorse for president in 2008.
Still, some confusion on the point would be forgiven for those who heard her gush about Senator Obama of Illinois last night as she introduced him to more than a thousand Democratic activists gathered at a fund-raiser here.
"I'm about to bring on the stage that next generation," Ms. Boxer said. "I see the future of America."
Yes, Ms. Boxer helped put Mr. Obama before scores of this city's well-heeled liberal donors. And, yes, she arranged for Mr. Obama to speak during the 6 p.m. hour that anchors local television newscasts. And, yes, the event was ostensibly to raise money for her own re-election, which voters won't decide on until 2010. But don't read too much into that, she said.
Ms. Boxer's pre-fund-raiser press conference was a feat of almost painful equanimity, as she felt compelled not to talk about Mr. Obama without, in the same breath, mentioning nearly every other Democratic hopeful. She gave top billing to Senator Clinton and a former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, but also tossed in references to Senators Biden of Delaware and Dodd of Connecticut and Governor Richardson of New Mexico.
In response to a question about which candidates have "star power," Ms. Boxer even mentioned a former governor of Iowa seen as a longshot, Thomas Vilsack. "A lot of our other candidates, who aren't really up there in the polls yet, have star power," she said.
The 1400 people in the hotel ballroom of Union Square were less coy. They roared as Mr. Obama took the stage and save their loudest applause for his condemnation of the war in Iraq.
"We're in the in the midst of a war that should have never been authorized," Mr. Obama said, taking a backhanded dig at Mrs. Clinton and other presidential contenders who voted to support the war.
Later last night, Mr. Obama was to attend a fund-raiser for his presidential campaign at the suburban home of an eBay executive. Mrs. Clinton is expected in the Bay Area Friday for her own fund-raising swing.
