Democrats' party chief casts his lot with Obama
The Boston Globe | March 09, 2007
By Brian C. Mooney
Philip W. Johnston, the Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman who served in the Clinton administration, declared his support yesterday for Senator Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton's top rival for the party's presidential nomination.
Calling Obama "the future of our party," Johnston also said the first-term Illinois Democrat's strong opposition to the war in Iraq was an important factor in his decision. Johnston, who met with Obama last week in Washington, said he will join the candidate's national finance committee and offer advice on healthcare.
Johnston, who plans to step down this spring as state party chairman, was appointed New England regional administrator of the US Department of Health and Human Services during President Clinton's first term. He now operates a healthcare consulting business.
Backing Obama "was a difficult choice, in that I had been a Clinton appointee and I know Hillary, and I respect her a great deal," Johnston said.
Johnston, who won the Clinton administration post because of his strong ties to Senator Edward M. Kennedy, said he is disappointed that Mrs. Clinton, a second-term senator from New York, has not acknowledged that she made a mistake by voting in 2002 to support the Iraq war resolution.
Johnston is not the first significant Bay State Democrat with Clinton ties to join the Obama.
