The Obama campaign has found a supporter in the family of Ryan Skipper, a 25-year-old gay man from Winter Haven who was killed last year in what authorities have ruled a hate crime.

Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s Web site pride.barackobama.com is dedicated solely to detailing the Illinois Democrat’s support of gay rights. In a campaign e-mail and blog posted on the Web site Thursday, Obama’s campaign referenced Skipper’s story and linked to a YouTube video recorded and posted online by Skipper’s brother, Damien Skipper.

In the video, Skipper describes his brother’s death as a tragedy that had additional weight because Ryan Skipper was gay.

“I know most of you watching this can understand how difficult it is to lose a loved one,” he says. “Now just take a moment to consider how difficult it would be to lose a loved one in the manner we lost Ryan. And then consider that Ryan was killed because of who he was. Ryan was killed because he was an openly gay man. That’s sickening.”

Skipper was found stabbed to death on the side of a Wahneta road March 15. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office called his slaying a hate crime after they said a witness told them the men charged in his killing did it because Skipper was gay…

Skipper recorded the video after campaign staffers contacted his family and asked them to share Ryan’s story in support of changes to federal hate crimes legislation.

In the video, Damien Skipper urges viewers to support the Matthew Shepard Act, proposed legislation that seeks to add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal hate crime laws which currently include only race, religion, ethnicity and nationality.

“We as a society have an opportunity to make a change. We have the opportunity to provide equality for the LGBT community,” Skipper says in the video.

“My family strongly supports Barack Obama in his campaign for the presidency due in large part to his support for the Matthew Shepard Act. Please join us.”

Sen. Barack Obama has selected Delaware Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate, according to his official Web site and a text message the campaign sent to supporters on Saturday.

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee,” the text message, sent at around 3 a.m. ET, said.

“Joe and I will appear for the first time as running mates this afternoon in Springfield, Illinois — the same place this campaign began more than 19 months ago,” Obama said in an e-mail sent to supporters Saturday morning.

“I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone,” he wrote. ” We need your help to keep building this movement for change.”

Vice presidential candidates are often called on to be the aggressors in the campaign. A comment Biden made earlier this year may have resonated with Obama:

â€œI refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history â€” maybe ever. The idea that they are competent to continue to conduct our foreign policy, to make us more secure and make Israel secure, is preposterous. … Every single thing theyâ€™ve touched has been a near-disaster.â€

Updated by JP at 5:27 a.m.

Day: August 23, 2008

Ryan Skipper’s Family Endorses Obama

Poetic Justice

Verbatim

“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”

— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.

“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”

— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.

Numerati

1,000

10%

“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.

71%

A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.

$9.5 billion

“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.

470

Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.