Jesse Jackson

CBS News reports that the Rev. Jesse Jackson has endorsed Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

CHICAGO, March 29, 2007
Presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson are seen at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Awards Breakfast in Chicago on Jan. 15, 2007. (AP/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Quote

"It is because people like Jesse ran that I have this opportunity to run for president today.”
Barack Obama, in a written statement

(AP) Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson said Thursday he's backing Democrat Barack Obama in his presidential bid, giving his support to a new generation of black politicians.

“He has my vote,” the Rev. Jackson told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Jackson sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, winning 13 primaries and caucuses in 1988. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, already has endorsed Obama.

Jackson represents a different era of black politician, battle-tested by the civil rights struggles of the 1960s with Martin Luther King Jr. CBS NEWS