Hillary succeeds Carol Moseley Braun in receiving NOW endorsement

Hillary Clinton and her followers are whooping it up this evening because the New York senator's presidential campaign received the endorsement from the National Organization of Women.

From AP:

Asked if she viewed herself as a feminist, Clinton said by the standard definition, yes.

"If you look in the dictionary, the word feminist means someone who believes in equal rights for women in society, in the economy, the political process — generally believes in the equality of women. And I certainly believe in the equality of women," she said.

Her response was met with enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

The New York senator and Democratic front-runner has launched a nationwide outreach to women voters, who are a majority of the electorate. The NOW endorsement was expected, and the Clinton campaign hopes the group's membership will strengthen the ranks of campaign volunteers and supporters.

Let's get into the way-back machine, back to the summer of 2003:

Today, Women's Equality Day, the National Organization for Women's Political Action Committee is proud to announce our endorsement of former Ambassador and Senator Carol Moseley Braun for President of the United States. I'm pleased that the National Women's Political Caucus also is announcing their endorsement this morning.

Roselyn O'Connell, president of the National Women's Political Caucus (left) and Kim Gandy, chair of the NOW Political Action Committee (right) jointly announced their groups' endorsements of Carol Moseley Braun on Aug. 26. With our endorsement comes access to NOW's hundreds of thousands of contributing members and over 500 chapters across the country—and the support of thousands of volunteer activists who are dedicated to supporting feminist candidates with their contributions and volunteer time.

The NOW endorsement did nothing for Carol Moseley Braun, whose pathetic campaign on a good day crossed the one-percent barrier in nationwide polls back in 2004.

Moseley-Braun even went as far to hire former NOW president Patricia Ireland to manage her campaign. (Ireland achieved national prominence as a chief apologist of then-President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.) But it didn't matter for CMB, before even the 2004 Iowa Caucuses, Moseley-Braun withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, disappointing dozens. Braun threw her "support" behind Howard Dean, and we know how he ended up.

Hillary will do better than the hapless Moseley-Braun. But it won't be because of today's NOW endorsement.

Thanks for the link: Blogmeister USA.

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