Obama picks up 2 Valley Dems

Cardoza, Costa on board with front-runner following Blue Dogs meeting in D.C.

Published online on Tuesday, May. 27, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's bandwagon on Friday picked up two San Joaquin Valley passengers as Reps. Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa formally endorsed the surging Democratic presidential contender.

With Obama now appearing all but certain to secure the Democratic presidential nomination, Cardoza and Costa added their names to his growing list of superdelegate supporters. The carefully timed joint endorsement moves Obama within several dozen delegate votes of the nomination.

"I believe that Sen. Obama will inevitably be our party's nominee for president," said Cardoza, a Merced Democrat.

The endorsement marks a turnabout for Cardoza. For Costa, a Fresno Democrat, it's a chance to get off the sidelines.

Last December, Cardoza publicly threw his support to Obama's rival, Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton. At the time, Cardoza praised her "strength and experience" and declared that "her time as First Lady and as a two term U.S. Senator uniquely prepares her to be president from day one."

Clinton, in turn, named Cardoza co-chair of her National Hispanic Leadership Council. Cardoza, who is of Portuguese ancestry, joined other members of Clinton's Hispanic council, including former Hanford Mayor Joaquin Gonzalez and former Reedley Mayor Ray Soleno.

Cardoza's endorsement of Clinton occurred when she appeared to be the odds-on favorite, with more than twice as many superdelegate supporters as Obama. That was before Obama won the Iowa caucuses and began his drive toward front-runner status.

In more recent weeks, as Clinton's lead evaporated, Cardoza and his fellow superdelegates have been getting more pressure from Obama's camp to join the winning team.

Two weeks ago, for instance, Obama ventured to a Capitol Hill townhouse to meet with members of the Blue Dog coalition, a group of moderate-to-conservative House Democrats who generally represent swing congressional districts. Cardoza and Costa are both Blue Dogs, and by all accounts Obama made a hit.

"I continue to greatly respect and admire Sen. Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign," Cardoza said. But "we need to avoid [a] potentially divisive situation by uniting behind one nominee and bringing the party together immediately."

Cardoza characterized Obama as "thoughtful, knowledgeable and inspirational."

Superdelegates like Cardoza and Costa are free to shift their support from one candidate to another. They have more flexibility than pledged delegates, who are assigned based on public voting. The first Democratic candidate to secure 2,026 delegates will win the nomination. As of Friday, CNN credited Obama with 1,969 delegates and Clinton with 1,779.

Unlike Cardoza, Costa had held his fire until now. Costa's neutral stance drew considerable attention from both campaigns, with current and former members of Congress repeatedly calling on Costa and his chief of staff, Fresno native Scott Nishioki. Some callers made the tactical point that an endorsement arriving after the nomination was formally sewn up would offer no political advantage to either side.

Last weekend, Obama and Costa talked by telephone to nail down the pending endorsement.

"I did not come to this decision without careful consideration," Costa said, adding that "it's been a long presidential primary season, and now is time to bring it to a close."

Costa, repeating an invitation he and Cardoza had issued earlier, said he was insisting that Obama campaign in the San Joaquin Valley sometime before the November general election.