McAuliffe, Moran spar over support for Obama

Sure he was for Hillary Rodham Clinton, but Terry McAuliffe backed Barack Obama for president -- and he has videotape to prove it.

McAuliffe, who was chairman of the Clinton campaign, is knocking down a radio commercial on black-oriented stations by Democratic gubernatorial rival Brian J. Moran that questions his support of Obama.

The McAuliffe-Moran duel, coming three weeks before the primary, spotlights the significance of the black vote in the June 9 balloting.

An e-mail yesterday to McAuliffe supporters by campaign manager Mike Henry includes a video of McAuliffe touting Obama in interviews and rallies after the Democratic National Convention.

McAuliffe made numerous appearances for Obama in Virginia. Tour schedules from the Obama campaign show that McAuliffe made a two-day, seven-stop tour in late September and an eight-city swing the weekend before the election.

McAuliffe also fired back with a radio spot of his own. In it he says, "Brian Moran is a good Democrat, so it's sad to see him use the same kind of attack politics against me that the Republicans used against President Obama."

And McAuliffe released a statement from former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., co-chairman of the Obama campaign. Daschle said McAuliffe "worked tirelessly" for Obama after Clinton conceded the nomination.

Moran's commercial, running in the Richmond-Norfolk corridor, links McAuliffe to Clinton attacks on Obama during the protracted primary: "The fact is, if Terry McAuliffe had his way, Barack Obama wouldn't be our president today."

McAuliffe's loyalty to Clinton is not unlike that of a Moran senior strategist, Mame Reiley. A superdelegate, Reiley told The Times-Dispatch in April 2008 that she was sticking with Clinton, saying: "I gave Hillary my word."

Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 649-6814 or .