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Clinton and Obama expand bases for support and money

BY REID J. EPSTEIN | reid.epstein@newsday.com

July 11, 2008

Barack Obama's campaign yesterday made a direct appeal to women who supported his chief Democratic rival, calling Hillary Rodham Clinton "my partner" and "my friend" at a breakfast fundraiser in Manhattan.

Obama told a crowd of 2,300 at New York Hilton and Towers that Clinton's work would be responsible for progress on issues ranging from universal health care to poverty to equal pay.

And he even touted Bill Clinton, who during the marathon Democratic primary offered some of the harshest critiques of the Illinois senator.

Of Hillary Clinton, Obama said: "I've admired her as a leader, I've learned from her as a candidate, I am proud to call her my friend, and I know how much we'll need both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton as a party and a country in the months and years to come."

Clinton, who campaigned with Obama during a two-day New York swing, urged her backers to transfer their support to the Obama campaign, though she admitted it may be a tough task for some.

"I understand how challenging it is to turn on a dime, to say, 'Close that chapter now, we're on to the next chapter,'" she said. "It is a process, it does take time for people to just take a deep breath and go forward."

The former rivals heaped each other with effusive praise, with Clinton referring to the Illinois senator by his first name and Obama calling his New York counterpart an important trailblazer for women.

Obama is seeking to raise a massive amount of money in the city while bringing Clinton supporters into his fold. He promised to advocate for her stances on a litany of issues important to women, including abortion rights, equal pay and universal health care.

Clinton sought donations from Obama supporters to help her retire her $12 million in outstanding campaign debt; she and her husband also loaned her campaign a combined $1 million, which they have said they will not seek to recoup.

"I want my daughters, and all our daughters, to have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievement, no opportunities beyond their reach," Obama told the midtown crowd, made up mostly of women.

"We've come so much closer to fulfilling that goal because of the extraordinary woman with whom I shared a stage so many times during this campaign as an opponent, and now have the privilege of doing so as a partner, my friend, Senator Hillary Clinton," said Obama, who struck similar themes later in Fairfax, Va.

Despite her enthusiastic stated support for Obama, Clinton appeared to betray a hint of resentment at the additional steps women must take to compete with men along the campaign trail.

"During the campaign, I'm sure you read that Barack would get up every morning and go to the gym," Clinton said. "I would get up and have my hair done. It's one of those Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire things that are part of our lives."