How did Barack Obama get a steady stream of endorsements started after NH?

[Beet]

No matter if he was up or down in the latest primary or latest news cycle, one thing has been consistent for Mr. Obama since right after New Hampshire with the John Kerry endorsement: he has kept up a steady, continuing drumbeat of endorsements from both within and outside of the Democratic party. This has kept his momentum going no matter what the latest polls or the latest votes have said. Time and time again, the voters rejected endorsements (the first contest after Kerry's endorsement, Nevada, was a loss; the Boston Globe arguably was rejected by NH; Kennedy was rejected in MA and CA; Napolitano was rejected in AZ), but the endorsements kept coming.

It almost seems like a war of attrition where the establishment and the media gradually overpowered the voters; granted Obama was a strong candidate who looked good.

How did this happen? Why did Kerry go for Obama after New Hampshire? Why did Governor Napolitano? Why did Senator Kennedy? Why so many newspapers? Why did this only happen after New Hampshire?

Discuss..

[Angel of Death]

It's at least as much based on Hillary's negatives as it is on Obama's appeal. Keeping that in mind, the establishment slowly started to see the writing on the wall with regard to the general election.

[Meeker]

The Kerry endorsement was likely kept off until after IA and NH in case of potential backlash IMO.

[Trilobyte]

Clinton got her own steady flow of endorsements, but most of them came before Iowa.

[Verily]

Clinton got her own steady flow of endorsements, but most of them came before Iowa.

That's not a "steady flow". Clinton got a lot of endorsements from DNC members long before Iowa, but most of it well before campaigning even seriously began (we're talking Spring 2007 here). She had plenty of congressional support, too, but never drastically more than Obama, and with Lewis and Scott flipping, Obama now leads among Representatives, I think.

[Trilobyte]

Clinton got her own steady flow of endorsements, but most of them came before Iowa.

That's not a "steady flow". Clinton got a lot of endorsements from DNC members long before Iowa, but most of it well before campaigning even seriously began (we're talking Spring 2007 here). She had plenty of congressional support, too, but never drastically more than Obama, and with Lewis and Scott flipping, Obama now leads among Representatives, I think.

That's what I said. Clinton's flow of endorsements came mostly before IA, Obama got his mostly after IA. That timing helped build Obama's momentum.

[Gabu]

I believe that Obama also got a heavy fundraising spike after New Hampshire.  It's possible that it might have been something along the lines of people going "oh crap, clinton might actually win this, we'd better back obama".

[Gustaf]

I think people like to wait so they don't hurt their own standing too much. You don't want to support a candidate who turns out to be a complete loser. When Obama won Iowa so big some of them may have thought that he had it in the bag. After New Hampshire it was clear that it would be a real race between the 2 and that both had appeal to the voters. At that point it was time to pick sides. And a lot picked Obama because the reasons outlined above would have less bearing on Clinton.

[Iosif is a COTHO]

1. Because congressman and Democratic pols are affluent, high-information voters which is one of Obama's key demographics.

2. Because Obama is (apparently) more personally charming than Clinton and he impresses people he meets.

The Kerry endorsement was likely kept off until after IA and NH in case of potential backlash IMO.

But they had no way of knowing about the 'backlash' effect before NH. No-one considered it.

[Meeker]

The Kerry endorsement was likely kept off until after IA and NH in case of potential backlash IMO.

But they had no way of knowing about the 'backlash' effect before NH. No-one considered it.

No no - the possible backlash from being associated with John Kerry. They didn't want it to cost him Iowa or NH.

[minionofmidas]

Anyone But Clinton. After New Hampshire, Edwards was finished.

[Beet]

So what the consensus seems to be is that the pro-Obama/anti-Clinton mood among a lot in the establishment was stronger than it appeared to be in 2007, and it took the clarifications of Iowa + New Hampshire to start to bring that out.