Barack Obama Receives Additional Iowa Endorsements

Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama gained two additional endorsements in the state of Iowa on Monday. The endorsements included those of Iowa's former lieutenant governor and a State Representative. His endorsements in Iowa can now be considered comparable to those of fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

According to a press release issued by the Obama campaign on Monday, the state's former Lt. Gov. Bob Anderson has endorsed Senator Obama. Anderson expressed the belief that Barack Obama would change the "failed foreign policies" which have been adhered to in previous decades, pointing out that Obama had opposed war with Iraq before it occurred.

The press release indicated that Anderson currently leads two organizations, the Iowa Peace Institute, and the Iowa Resource for International Service. He also graduated from the University of Iowa with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in the field of journalism. Senator Obama was quoted as saying he is "proud" to receive the endorsement of Anderson, and that Anderson would have an "instrumental role" in helping to gain support for his campaign throughout Iowa.

According to another press release issued by his campaign on Monday, Senator Obama has received the endorsement of Paul Shomshor, a State Representative for Council Bluffs, Iowa. Shomshor was quoted as saying that Obama had worked for twenty years to help families "achieve the American dream", and went on to say that he would continue to work toward that goal as president.

Paul Shomshor became a State Representative in 2003, according to the press release. Senator Barack Obama responded to the endorsement by saying that he looks forward to working with Shomshor to expand the "grassroots movement for change." The press release also pointed out that Obama now has the endorsement of nineteen Iowa legislators, which is the same number of such endorsements gained by Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. It indicates that he has been endorsed by the Attorney General and the State Treasurer of Iowa as well.

The Obama '08 web site provides a number of details about Senator Obama's past. It indicates that he was born in Hawaii in August 1961. He later attended Columbia University and graduated in 1983, and went on to work as a community organizer, gain a law degree at Harvard University (1991), and become a civil rights lawyer. He was elected as a State Senator for eight years, and became a U.S. Senator in 2004. He is married and has two children.

Sources:
1. Barack Obama, http://www.barackobama.com/2007/12/10/former_iowa_lt_governor_bob_an.php
2. Barack Obama, http://www.barackobama.com/2007/12/10/state_representative_paul_shom.php
3. Barack Obama, http://www.barackobama.com/about/