Harpootlian for Obama

Dick Harpootlian, a.k.a. the Mouth of the South, is famous for having said he didn't want to buy the black vote; he just wanted to rent it for a day.

Apparently, Barack Obama has managed to entice him into a longer-term relationship. Here's what the Charleston paper had to say about that today:

    A former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party said Monday he would throw his support behind presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
     "I see in Barack Obama ... the same magnetism I saw in Bill Clinton," said Dick Harpootlian, who met with the Illinois senator during his first campaign visit to this early voting state Friday.
    Harpootlian's announcement came as New York Sen. Hillary Clinton made her first campaign trek through South Carolina. Harpootlian, who has in the past called Clinton a polarizing political figure, downplayed his comments Monday and said she or any of the Democratic candidates would make a fine president.
    But he said Obama was the embodiment of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that people be judged by their character, not their skin color.
    Harpootlian said he would immediately begin fundraising for Obama.
    "I think it will be easy to raise money for him," he said.