Obama campaign announces 35 national campaign co-chairs such as actress Eva Longoria, Black Congressional Caucus Chair Emanuel Cleaver, Strickland
Former Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland (center) with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama

Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Emanuel Cleaver III (D-MO)
From the Metro Desk of The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com and Cleveland Urban News.Com (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com and www.clevelandurbannews.com)
CLEVELAND, Ohio-The Obama for America campaign announced on Wed. the names of 35 co-chairs for the president's 2012 reelection campaign that include a host of Democratic mayors, governors and U. S. senators, as well as union leaders, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Emanuel Cleaver III (D-MO), and famous people such as Caroline Kennedy and desperate housewives actress Eva Longoria.
Also among the group are Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who campaigned for the president in 2008 during a heated Democratic primary against now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was also a former chief of staff, and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.
“The president’s national co-chairs will be tremendous assets on the ground as we build the biggest grassroots campaign in history,” said Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina in a press release to Cleveland Urban New.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com. “They each share the president’s vision for a future where every American can have a fair shot at success, where hard work pays off, and where responsibility is rewarded.”
Blacks leaders that were selected were enthusiastic about the challenge.
"I am committed to working tirelessly as a national co-chair for Obama for America to ensure the president can continue to carry out his vision for an economy built to last and continue to bring positive change to our great country, " said Cleaver III, who has led the Congressional Black Caucus of 43 members of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2010.
"We need this president’s continued leadership to help us leave our country better than we found it," added Patrick, the first Black governor of Massachusetts .
The president is clever enough to include people representing pivotal states such as Strickland in Ohio, former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold, Florida Obama for America affiliate Annette Acosta, and Sai lyer, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University.
No Republican has won the White House without first winning Ohio and the last Democrat to jump that hurdle was the late former president John F. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy's father.
Strickland is a former congressman that represented Ohio's 6th Congressional District.
He served a single four-year term as Ohio governor before his defeat in 2010 by John Kasich, a Republican, and also a former U.S. representative to Congress.
Reach Kathy Wray Coleman by email at kathy@kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, and by telephone at 216-932-3114.
Comments