Former Governor L. Douglas Wilder, who backed Barack Obama in 2008, won’t endorse him this year.
Douglas is the nation’s first black governor.
Last year, Douglas Wilder said Democrats did not want to be seen with Obama.
The Times-Dispatch reported:
Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who backed Democrat Barack Obama for president in 2008, did not endorse Obama or Republican Mitt Romney in an opinion column released days before the election.
“I have campaigned for and supported the president in the past and many people now want to discuss his job performance with me,” Wilder writes in a column for Reuters.
“They often note that Obama ran as a moderate — and that is the man they threw their support behind in 2008. But some look back and say that he has governed as a left-of-center liberal who did not keep the focus squarely on jobs and economic recovery.
“Is that group of independent-minded voters enough to swing Virginia’s 13 electoral votes away from Obama on Tuesday? The race is so close, we will have to wait until November 6 for a definitive answer. But for a state Obama may need to win, that uncertainty after almost four years on the job cannot be a great comfort to his campaign operatives.”
Wilder does not expressly back Romney, but he says the Republican has met the test to be president.
