Ward Connerly

From Le Templar in Arizona: 

One person that most people wouldn’t expect to donate to the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is Ward Connerly, a national figure in the movement to abolish government affirmation action programs.

Connerly is best known as the former regent of the University of California system who led initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan to forbid any consideration of race in determining admission to public colleges and universities. He was in Phoenix Thursday to speak about a new initiative campaign this year to pass constitutional amendments in five states to end all affirmation action programs related to education, government employment and public contracts.

But Connerly was asked about the role of race in the presidential campaign, with Obama being touted as a black candidate with the best chance ever to win the White House.

Connerly said he almost certainly won’t vote for Obama, as they are polar opposites on most policy issues. But Connerly said he has donated $500 to Obama’s campaign in recognition that Obama doesn’t want his race to factor at all into voters’ decisions.

“I think that’s how most Americans feel,” Connerly said. “The people of New Hampshire. The people of Iowa. People want to get beyond it, especially those 18- to 30-year-olds who are part of this new dynamic, energetic Obamamania.

“It’s a good thing that they are excited, that they are energized, because they are bringing a whole new vision to America of how we look at race.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Barack Obama, California, Democratic presidential race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.