Finally, a Hillary Clinton supporter with some sense! Oh wait– he’s now for Barack Obama!
Read the original Washington Post article (emphasis is my own):
Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon served as an ambassador to Chile during Bill Clinton’s presidency, considered himself a close friend of Sen. Hillary Clinton and became a “HillRaiser” by raising six-figure sums for her presidential bid.
But Guerra-Mondragon has had a fitful time of it in recent weeks as Clinton battled Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination. Last week, he decided he had seen enough and joined Obama’s finance committee.
“We’re just bleeding each other out,” Guerra-Mondragon said, when asked about the switch. “Looking at it as coldly as I can, I just don’t see how Senator Clinton can overcome Senator Obama with delegates and popular votes. I want this fight to be over, the quicker the better.”
The former Clintonite said the decision to jump ship to join Obama’s team “was a very, very difficult decision for me to make. I am an old and longtime friend of Senator Clinton. And I continue to think she is a fantastic and formidable person. But I am first of all a Democrat.“
Here’s how he explained his decision: “I have found myself in a very difficult situation where you have two very good candidates, but one is ahead. That is Senator Obama. If I look at the remaining contests, beginning with North Carolina and Indiana, I just don’t see how Senator Clinton can overcome Senator Obama with delegates and popular votes. I believe the superdelegates, it is going to be very difficult for the superdelegates not to give their vote to the one that has that lead.”
Whether other HillRaisers will follow is unclear.
Clinton aides said they don’t see Guerra-Mondragon’s decision as foreshadowing any sort of mass migration.
“Pennsylvania did the job of calming any nerves that existed,” said Jay Carson, a campaign spokesman. “It showed an intensity and a fight which our donors both large and small really value about her and her candidacy.”
Carson added: “This idea that an extended primary is bad for the party is an utter and complete myth. You need only look at the record voter turnout in every single contest including Texas and Ohio, and record registration in those states and others which will give Democrats a great advantage.”
According to CNN, the official announcement will be made next week.
Apparently Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon was also born in Puerto Rico and has political ties there as well, which could help in Puerto Rico’s upcoming primary.
Filed under: barack obama, election, hillary clinton, politics | Tagged: barack obama, clinton, Gabriel Guerra-Mondragon, hillary clinton, hillraisers, obama
As a Puerto Rican, raised in NYC’s Spanish Harlem, now a medical professional, who has followed this race very closely, I can only applaud Mr. Mondragon’s decision, as it is the correct thing to do.
Yes, it would be nice to have a woman president, but Sen. Clinton is NOT that woman.
She does not represent me at all. Perhaps some other time and some other woman.
If Mrs. Clinton is so willing to be dishonest publicly, what in the world, will she do when out of the public eye?!
WSC