“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care plan.”

– Obama, at a Senate campaign rally in 2003.

proponent |prəˈpōnənt|nouna person who advocates a theory, proposal, or project : a collection of essays by both critics and proponents of graphology.ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Latin proponent- ‘putting forth,’ from the verb proponere (see propound ).