Bedell backs Obama
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, December 23, 2007
Former U.S. Congressman Berkley Bedell of Spirit Lake, Iowa, has endorsed Sen. Barrack Obama in the presidential race with a little more than one week to go before the crucial Iowa Caucuses on Jan. 3.
Bedell, who served from 1974 to 1986 in Iowa's old 6th District, the last Democratic congressman to serve Northwest Iowa, said the deciding factor in backing the Illinois senator is Obama's leadership in the fight for public funding laws for political campaigns.
"My big issue," Bedell said, "is that I think if we're ever going to get our government to really operate for the people, we have to take the influence of money out of politics."
Some states such as Maine have shown the way with legislation that accomplishes this, and there are bills in both the House and Senate that do the same, "And all the Democrats have committed that they will work for this, but Obama's gone a little further and has co-sponsored a bill to do it. And that is a major factor," he said, for his endorsement.
But there are other reasons.
"I think he is the most electable in the general election among the top three, and I also believe that he has demonstrated that he can work across party lines and end this terrible bickering that has been going on between the Republicans and the Democrats," Bedell said.
"Obama can bring the two sides together "more so than any of the others," he added.
In a statement to the Journal, Obama said "I'm honored to have Congressman Berkley Bedell join our movement to move past politics as usual and bring about change we can believe in."
Bedell said it was a tough decision choosing from among so many good candidates.
"I think we've really got the best field of candidates among the Democrats that I've ever experienced. So I think it's something that you do have to look at pretty closely, but I feel strongly enough that I felt that I needed to say this, and particularly because of that one issue that I think overrides an awful lot of the domestic issues in particular," he said. "I think you're going to have a terrible time going to get any particular good changes in health care as long as the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry use their power of their money and their lobbyists to have such a big say in what happens in our government."
Bedell, who served from 1974 to 1986 in Iowa's old 6th District, the last Democratic congressman to serve Northwest Iowa, said the deciding factor in backing the Illinois senator is Obama's leadership in the fight for public funding laws for political campaigns.
"My big issue," Bedell said, "is that I think if we're ever going to get our government to really operate for the people, we have to take the influence of money out of politics."
Some states such as Maine have shown the way with legislation that accomplishes this, and there are bills in both the House and Senate that do the same, "And all the Democrats have committed that they will work for this, but Obama's gone a little further and has co-sponsored a bill to do it. And that is a major factor," he said, for his endorsement.
But there are other reasons.
"I think he is the most electable in the general election among the top three, and I also believe that he has demonstrated that he can work across party lines and end this terrible bickering that has been going on between the Republicans and the Democrats," Bedell said.
"Obama can bring the two sides together "more so than any of the others," he added.
In a statement to the Journal, Obama said "I'm honored to have Congressman Berkley Bedell join our movement to move past politics as usual and bring about change we can believe in."
Bedell said it was a tough decision choosing from among so many good candidates.
"I think we've really got the best field of candidates among the Democrats that I've ever experienced. So I think it's something that you do have to look at pretty closely, but I feel strongly enough that I felt that I needed to say this, and particularly because of that one issue that I think overrides an awful lot of the domestic issues in particular," he said. "I think you're going to have a terrible time going to get any particular good changes in health care as long as the pharmaceutical industry and the insurance industry use their power of their money and their lobbyists to have such a big say in what happens in our government."
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Lindsay wrote on Jan 2, 2008 12:19 AM:
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