FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 13, 2008

Contact: Sam Arora at media@voteboth.com [1]

MARIO CUOMO ENDORSES “DREAM TICKET”
 
WASHINGTON, DC--Former New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo today endorsed the idea of a Democratic “dream ticket.”

“Look, what we want more than anything is to win, and to win you're going to need all the votes she gets and you don't,” said Cuomo, addressing his comments to Senator Obama during an appearance on CNN’s The Situation Room.  “The best way to do it is to invite her on the ticket. If, in fact, at the end of process you win, which it looks like you might very well, then why not add her to the ticket?”

Cuomo joins the growing ranks of prominent Democrats supporting a unity ticket with both Obama and Clinton. Yesterday, Senator Charles E. Schumer said that Senators Obama and Clinton would be “a strong ticket together.” Last Tuesday, Democratic Leadership Council chairman and former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford, Jr. endorsed a unity ticket, saying, “I think it's something that this party is going to have to think very seriously about in the next few weeks.”

An excerpt of Cuomo’s interview appears below.  The full transcript is available at http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/13/sitroom.01.html [2].

BLITZER: If Barack Obama is watching us right now -- maybe he is, we don't know -- what is your message to him about a possible ticket involving Obama and Clinton?

CUOMO: Well, first of all, I'd say to him, congratulations for the extraordinary race you've made and the great success you've made so far. It's not over, but you've done a heck of a job.

And I'd say the obvious. Look, what we want more than anything is to win, and to win you're going to need all the votes she gets and you don't. And all the votes that she gets that -- that all the votes she gets, all the votes you get, they're different votes.

You've got Hispanics here. You have African-Americans there. You have all people. You need them both. The best way to do that...

BLITZER: And the only way to do that is to invite her on the ticket?

CUOMO: No, no. The best way to do it is to invite her on the ticket. If, in fact, at the end of process you win, which it looks like you might very well, then why not add her to the ticket? Now, all the arguments I hear against it don't make any sense to me.

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