No He Can't !?!?

Sen. Barack Obama is making it clear that an African-American U.S. senatorial candidate from Georgia has crossed the line by linking the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to his campaign. In recent days, Vernon Jones, the DeKalb County CEO, released a campaign flier showing him and Obama smiling together; the caption reads: “Yes We Can.” But the Illinois senator is screaming, “No He Can’t!” Obama, speaking to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday, said, “I do not endorse him; I have not endorsed him. He put my picture on his literature, without asking me. Now I will tell you in the southside of Chicago, and I’m assuming here in Georgia, those kinds of things aren’t uncommon. It’s a little less common to do when you’re a U.S. Senate candidate when presumably the scrutiny is a little higher.” Jones, who says he wasn’t trying to trick anybody, mailed thousands of the leaflets, the Journal-Constitution reports. The photo appears to be of himself standing next to Obama in front of a campaign crowd, the newspaper says, while the photo was really a digital compilation of two or more images. “I think he may have come to an event of ours a while back,” Obama said. “The reason I think I may have met him is I know somebody told me as I was shaking his hand that he had taken pride in voting for George Bush twice.” Still, Jones’ spokeswoman says that her candidate is a strong supporter of Obama. “Vernon Jones is a conservative Democrat who holds views consistent with mainstream Georgians, and like Vernon Jones, Sen. Barack Obama kicked off his Georgia campaign in Cobb County,” Jones said Tuesday. He has called the flier a campaign “keepsake piece,” noting that he has been asked to autograph it at campaign stops everywhere. Jones is battling fellow Democrats Dale Cardwell, a former WSB television reporter; Atlanta businessman Rand Knight; former state legislator Jim Martin; and retired businessman Josh Lanier of Statesboro in July 15 primary. They are vying to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Libertarian Allen Buckley in the November general election. Jones says that “for Sen. Obama to win Georgia, he will need conservative Democrats like myself.” Do you agree with Jones?