Sen. Robert C. Byrd endorses Obama
Published 10:43 am Monday, May 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and a one-time opponent of civil rights legislation, is endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama is vying to be the nation’s first black president.
The West Virginia senator says Obama has the qualities to end the Iraq war.
In a written statement, Byrd called Obama “a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq.”
Byrd is the longest-serving senator in history and third person in the line of presidential succession.
