Political Endorsements

Bill has called for Hillary. Antonio has called for Hillary. Barack's people have called, though he has not personally phoned yet. He probably will, though. After all, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina could be an important arrow in a Democratic presidential candidate's quiver of endorsements. Now that her favorite, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, has quit the race, Molina is a sought-after prize.

Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama on Thursday. "We need a president who can reintroduce America to the world and actually reintroduce America to ourselves," Leahy told reporters in a conference call. "I believe Barack Obama is the best person to do that." The Vermont senator's endorsement gives Obama, of Illinois, the backing of eight Democratic senators, compared with 11 for Sen.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain raised more than $1 million Tuesday on rival Rudolph W. Giuliani's turf and picked up the endorsement of the former New York mayor's longtime nemesis. Former Sen. Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.) switched his allegiance in the presidential race from former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who abandoned his bid Tuesday, to McCain. D'Amato has long been at odds with Giuliani.

The campaign for a $243-million telephone users tax on the Feb. 5 ballot has amassed nearly $2.6 million, almost three-fourths of it from labor unions, according to campaign contribution reports filed Thursday. Unions provided nearly $1.9 million to the Proposition S campaign, which is seeking to preserve a tax on cellular and land line calls that has been challenged repeatedly in court.

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) endorsed John McCain on Friday, a move likely to give the Republican presidential candidate a boost with the state's Cuban Americans days before the Tuesday primary. "I understand that he is ready on Day One to lead this nation, and I would trust the future and the security of this nation to this man," Martinez said in introducing the Arizona senator to the Latin Builders Assn.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, an icon of Democratic Party politics, plans to endorse Sen. Barack Obama today. Kennedy and his niece Caroline Kennedy are to appear with Obama at American University in Washington, according to the candidate's campaign schedule. Caroline Kennedy is the daughter of President Kennedy. Reports that Sen.

The state's largest teachers union bucked its elections committee and declined to endorse Hillary Clinton for president at last weekend's delegate meeting in Los Angeles. Supporters of rival Barack Obama characterized the indecisiveness of the 340,000-member California Teachers Assn. as a strategic victory. "What impact the endorsement has now doesn't measure up to the potential damage if the endorsed person doesn't win," said Michael Day, president of the Teachers Assn. of Long Beach, who attended as an observer.

Declaring that "it is time for a new generation of leadership" in America, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president Monday, wrapping the young politician in the mantle of America's best-known political dynasty. He was joined in a cavernous gymnasium at American University here by his niece Caroline and his son, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy of Rhode Island, both of whom also threw their support behind the youthful Illinois senator.

When Sen. Barack Obama campaigned in Nevada two weeks ago, he scored what his campaign described as a political coup: the backing of Maria Elena Durazo, the head of the powerful 800,000-member Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. But while the endorsement gave a psychological boost to Obama, it created some blowback for Durazo, considered Southern California's leading voice on labor issues.

John McCain sought to fasten his grip on the Republican presidential nomination Wednesday by securing high-profile endorsements from erstwhile rival Rudolph W. Giuliani and, in a reversal of his promised neutrality, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Former New York City Mayor Giuliani, who spent months atop national polls but never finished better than third in any contest, quit the race at a Simi Valley news conference, where he hailed the Arizona senator as a friend and an "American hero."