For those unfamiliar, Richard Riordan is the very popular former Mayor of Los Angeles and a prominent Republican. He was on his way to winning the Republican nomination for governor in 2002 when Gray Davis --fearing Riordan would beat him in the general election -- ran expensive campaign ads against him. Riordan ended up losing to a more conservative Republican who lost to Davis. In 2005 Riordan was poised to run for governor when Gray Davis was being recalled and was favored to win. But then Arnold jumped in at the last minute.
Riordan was smart enough to know Arnold was one candidate that he could not beat and so he decided not to run.
Yesterday, Riordan endorsed Obama. He did so with praise for Obama while and saying flatly "When I was mayor I had dealings with McCain where I didn’t respect him."
This may not help in any particular swing state and Riordan is not the greatest campaigner, but there are three characterisitics that may make him appeal to some key voter groups that are going for McCain:
He's a Republican
He's Catholic
He's older than McCain
His words for Obama: "I think he’s a much more open person. He’s young, he has more energy, more electricity." Riordan Endorses Obama
What's most interesting is that this endorsement is from the second most prominent Republican politician in the country's largest state and it is getting no attention while the endorsement from a Hillary fundraiser who has never had any political office or standing is BIG news on the internet.
Another ugly evidence of the power of the Drudge?