Sen. Moynihan's Widow Endorses Obama

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NEW YORK (AP) — The widow of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the Democratic senator who helped Hillary Clinton in her first bid for the Senate, endorsed Barack Obama for president on Thursday.

Elizabeth B. Moynihan, said she believes her late husband, who represented New York in the Senate for 24 years, would applaud her choice.

She added that her husband, who died in 2003, would have been surprised that "so many close Senate friends he respected were competing for the nomination" and she called Clinton "a very good senator."

But she said he would have become excited, as she has, "to see Barack Obama rekindle hope in our young as he encourages them to participate in the political process."

"I know Pat would approve, applaud and encourage me to join Caroline Kennedy in supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States," she wrote in an e-mail. She was referring to Caroline Kennedy's opinion piece endorsing Obama in last Sunday's New York Times.

In 1999, Clinton — an Illinois native who spent most of her life in Arkansas and Washington — announced her candidacy for Moynihan's Senate seat at his farmhouse in upstate New York, with him and his wife standing next to her.

At the time, Moynihan, who was retiring in 2001, told reporters: "I'm here to say that I hope she will go all the way. I mean to go all the way with her. I think she's going to win."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZywMZNARiHymv1aWJKWqqNUbnUwD8UH3PNG0

[formernaderite]

1. not surprising

Moynihan was NEVER an enthusiastic backer of hill's for his senate seat either.