It's a surprise move, and a disappointing one for many, who came to revere Dellums as one of the most consistently pro-peace voices during the near three decades he spent in Congress. Dellums retired in 1997.

Last year he won a landslide victory in the Oakland mayoral election, mostly by chiding the record of the outgoing Jerry Brown who Dellums criticized as too centrist, too business friendly.

Dellums' promise to bring an aggressively progressive style to the troubled city of Oakland had already been marred a public image of having accomplished little in his first months in office.

But few of his supporters were prepared for him to step out and bless the one major Democratic candidate considered to be the most conservative and the most compromised on the issue of the Iraq war.

Dellums made the endorsement Monday during a public appearance by Hillary Clinton at Laney College. In return for his political support, Dellums was promised that if elected Hillary would provude Oakland with expanded federal aid programs.