AP — In casting his support for Barack Obama, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry, a superdelegate, stepped out of character, defied conventional wisdom and selected the loser in the Oklahoma Democratic primary.
Henry’s decision, announced the day after Obama absorbed a 10-point defeat to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary, surprised many officials, Republicans and Democrats alike.
After all, Clinton, the New York senator, was a fixture for years as the first lady in neighboring Arkansas, before Bill Clinton, the former Arkansas governor, was elected to the first of his two terms as president in 1992.
And more importantly, Hillary Clinton scored an impressive victory in Oklahoma’s presidential primary, garnering 55 percent of the vote to Obama’s 31 percent. Much of the Democratic establishment in the state was solidly behind Clinton.
The safest decision for Henry would seem to be the candidate who carried his state, and he said he gave that strong consideration.
In choosing Obama, he said he was picking someone like himself who would exercise a bipartisan approach to solving the country’s major problems.
“We need somebody who will really shake up the system,” he said.
“He represents the future, not the past; the new way, as opposed to the old way,” the 44-year-old governor said.
For those who have watched how Henry operates in the political arena, however, the endorsement was puzzling, especially coming so early in the process.
Some officials speculated openly that the governor may be setting himself up for an appointment if Obama wins the presidency, perhaps a judgeship after he leaves as governor in 2010.
“I think it was a little bit out of character. He’s been very cautious,” said Senate Co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.
“I had to laugh a little bit with the governor endorsing against his own party’s wishes here in the state the most liberal candidate in the presidential race,” Coffee said last week.
“It makes you wonder out loud what the governor’s plans are ... if he’s lobbying for a job in Washington with Obama,” Coffee said. Henry said his discussions with the Illinois senator did not include any possible role in Obama’s administration, and he repeated his long-held position that neither he nor first lady Kim Henry want to go to Washington.
Some say his decision to go with Obama may be a sign that he plans to opt out of being a candidate for the U.S. Senate some day, coupled with his veto in the same month of an anti-abortion bill in the face of a sure override.
Henry said the timing of the announcement after the Pennsylvania vote was coincidental. He said he voted for Obama on Feb. 5 and planned to announce his support earlier in April.
The governor said he decided to delay endorsing Obama until after he spoke at an April 19 ceremony on the anniversary of the federal courthouse bombing in Oklahoma City. Henry said he believed Oklahoma Democrats would be understanding that he has the right to exercise “independent judgment” as a superdelegate and endorse someone he felt was “best for Oklahoma and best for the country.”
Traditionally, Democratic political leaders in Oklahoma have shunned association with their party’s national standard bearers, especially if they were considered too liberal for the conservative state. Some have run from appearing at events with such national Democratic figures as Sen. Ted Kennedy.
It’s a tradition that goes back to the 1930s, when the Oklahoma governor opposed Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal. University of Oklahoma President David Boren, a former senator and governor, also surprised many people by announcing his support for Obama.
As governor, Boren got behind the candidacy of another Sunbelt governor — Jimmy Carter. As senator in 1992, Boren backed the late Sen. Paul Tsongas, a fiscal conservative, over Clinton.
Four years ago, he heaped praise on the candidacy of another Democratic conservative, Joe Lieberman, who was re-elected to the Senate as an independent after being the running mate of Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee.
More often than not in recent decades, the Democrat who was to emerged as the presidential nominee fared poorly in Oklahoma’s primary. Four years ago, John Kerry finished third in Oklahoma to Wesley Clark and John Edwards.
Henry went on to endorse Edwards after first saying he planned to be uncommitted until the national convention. In his run for re-election, television ads run on behalf of Henry’s Republican opponent, former Rep. Ernest Istook, showed a clip of Henry casting Oklahoma’s votes for Kerry at the Democratic national convention.
Oklahoma has not voted for the Democratic nominee for president since 1964, when Lyndon Johnson was elected.
