MoveOn won't endorse Senator Clinton or challenger Tasini in upcoming primary

Ron Brynaert
Published: Friday September 1, 2006

On Thursday, the political action group MoveOn sent emails to all of its members based in New York asking them to vote on which candidate to support in the upcoming Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton or anti-war challenger Jonathan Tasini, and the results have been released.

The email asked, "Who should MoveOn endorse in New York's U.S. Senate race?" but added that if neither candidate earned two-thirds of the cast votes, then MoveOn would not endorse either in the race.

Today, MoveOn announced that it "won't be making an endorsement in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary" in an email sent to New York members.

"In voting over the last day, neither Hillary Rodham Clinton nor Jonathan Tasini garnered the two-thirds support from MoveOn members necessary for an endorsement," said the email. "The margin in our online vote was 56 percent for Clinton and 44 percent for Tasini."

"The MoveOn election effort in New York and across the country will stay focused on beating vulnerable Republican incumbents in House races—working to end one-party Republican rule in Washington," the email continued.

"These results are a broader indicator than other polls that have come out because they give the opinion of many more voters among the Democratic activist base," Tasini said in a press release received by RAW STORY.

Despite losing by a 12 percent margin to Senator Clinton, Tasini said that he was "very heartened by the outcome."

"In many cases, MoveOn members heard of me for the very first time in this poll, and had the information they received about our differing positions been more balanced rather than favoring one candidate, I believe I would have won," Tasini said.

Tasini cites the poll as another reason why Clinton should agree to a debate with him before the September 12th primary, and suggests that MoveOn could sponsor it.

"What this poll does show is a deeply divided Democratic base that deserves a full debate on the issues, and I call on MoveOn to call on Senator Clinton to debate me immediately, so that MoveOn members get the full range of opinion before September 12th," said Tasini. "I would also ask MoveOn to host the debate should there not be another forum.”