Grijalva Endorsement Instantly Makes Obama Competitive In Arizona
Today, Rep. Raul Grijalva switched his endorsement from former Senator John Edwards to Senator Barack Obama. Besides being an all-important Super Delegate, Congressman Grijalva's endorsement instantly makes Sen. Obama competitive with Hillary Clinton to win the February 5th state.
Along with the coveted endorsement of the popular governor, Janet Napolitano, Grijalva's endorsement creates a powerful Phoenix-Tucson one-tow punch for Obama.
In Arizona, Democratic primaries are won or lost in the two largest media markets, with Tucson having a larger than expected role because of its being a heavy Democratic stronghold. Grijalva is a popular Congressman-for-life from heavily hispanic Tucson and possesses what is considered to be the closest thing to a political machine that exists in Arizona.
The Grijalva machine is very powerful and is a proven vote turnout operation in Tucson and southern Arizona. But the key to that machine is that it is laden with what is perceived as an Obama-weakness: latino voters. Grijalva's endorsement and his latino-rich constituency, may prove to be a big coup for the Obama campaign.
This is huge. And, IMO, much more important that Maxine Waters' endorsement of HRC today....mainly because Grijalva has an ability to deliver voters who may not have been originally inclined to support Obama.