Super-superdelegate Joe Andrew pulled a “Judas” move today and defected from the Clinton camp to endorse Obama.

Andrew, Democratic National Committee chairman from 1999-2001, was appointed to his position by former President Bill Clinton. Andrew was one of the first to endorse Clinton’s wife Hillary for the 2008 presidential race.

…a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain,” said Andrew in a press release today announcing his decision.

Andrew plans to urge Democrats to rally behind Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and “heal the rift in our party” today in a news conference in Indianapolis, his hometown before Tuesday’s primary in the state.
While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us,” Andrew wrote. “John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives.”

About an hour later Andrew sent out letter predicting how the Clinton camp might react to the news of his decision, describing their tactics to be “old politics” and Republican-like.

My endorsement of Senator Obama will not be welcome news to my friends and family at the Clinton campaign. If the campaign’s surrogates called Governor Bill Richardson, a respected former member of President Clinton’s cabinet, a “Judas” for endorsing Senator Obama, we can all imagine how they will treat somebody like me. They are the best practitioners of the old politics, so they will no doubt call me a traitor, an opportunist and a hypocrite. I will be branded as disloyal, power-hungry, but most importantly, they will use the exact words that Republicans used to attack me when I was defending President Clinton.

When they use the same attacks made on me when I was defending them, they prove the callow hypocrisy of the old politics first perfected by Republicans. I am an expert on this because these were the exact tools that I mastered as a campaign volunteer, a campaign manager, a State Party Chair and the National Chair of our Party. I learned the lessons of the tough, right-wing Republicans all too well. I can speak with authority on how to spar with everyone from Lee Atwater to Karl Rove. I understand that, while wrong and pernicious, shallow victory can be achieved through division by semantics and obfuscation. Like many, I succumbed to the addiction of old politics because they are so easy.

According to the Associated Press, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer responded: We support that Democratic process and think that every American should be able to weigh in and support the candidate of his or her own choosing.”

Andrew says Wright controversy and gas tax influenced his decision after the jump>>

Andrew said he was impressed by Obama’s handling of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy and Obama’s opposition to a summer gas tax holiday.

“He has shown such mettle under fire,” Andrew said in an interview with the Associated Press. “The Jeremiah Wright controversy just reconfirmed for me, just as the gas tax controversy confirmed for me, that he is the right candidate for our party.”

Andrew’s decision puts Obama closer to closing Clinton’s superdelegate lead trailing her now by 16 superdelegates, 247-263. This week, he picked up 11 superdelegates, while she gained three.

Obama and Clinton are running close in Indiana and both need a victory there.

• OBAMA “OUTRAGED” BY WRIGHT’S LATEST COMMENTS
• BET Founder Says Ferraro Was Right
• NY TIMES SLAMS CLINTON
• Rev. Wright: Critics twisting sermons for political gain
• PRIMARY AFTERMATH// McGovern Backs Obama// Bomb Threat

Filed under: TheRag