Endorsements

From the Hotline blog, which mentions Steve Hildebrand, Daschle's former campaign manager, who is working for Obama:

State Sen. Darrell Jackson (D) is the pastor of the Bible Way Church in Columbia. which has one of the largest congregations in South Carolina. He was the youngest African American ever elected to the legislature. His endorsement is among the few in the state that can change minds and move votes.

Jackson is also a prized political consultant, and, during the past two South Carolina primary campaigns, has been the object of a bidding war between top-tier presidential candidates.

Yesterday, Jackson confirmed that he had decided to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton, less than six days after his public relations firm, Sunrise Enterprises, agreed to a contract with Clinton's campaign worth at least $10,000 a month through the 2008 elections - a total of $210,000. (The contract has not been signed.)

A few days before that, Jackson was deep in negotiations with Steve Hildebrand, a senior strategist for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. On the table was a contract worth in excess of $5K a month, beginning on 3/15/07. Separately, Obama was personally soliciitng Jackson's endorsement.

There's no question that the contract and the negotiations are legal. Sunrise is the oldest political consulting firm run by African Americans in the state and its services were in demand: at least five candidates, including Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Joe Biden, reached out to Jackson.

But in an interview, Jackson conceded that he should have acknowledged his firm's new business relationship with the Clinton campaign. "This Clinton campaign didn't put this on me, and neither did I. We didn't intend to announce this for a while," he said. "It wasn't me that called a press conference." Jackson's colleague, State Sen. Robert Ford, proudly told a reporter yesterday that he and Jackson had decided to endorse Clinton. Jackson, in subsequent interviews with reporters, confirmed his choice.