Largest Union in California Says It Will Work for Edwards There and Elsewhere

[Omaha Steve]

Source: N Y Times

By CHRISTINE HAUSER

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19 — The state council of the Service Employees International Union publicly threw its weight behind John Edwards’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Friday and said it would rally its members here and in other states, including those holding early primaries, to support his campaign.

The union is the largest in California, with 656,000 members. Its backing is a significant achievement for Mr. Edwards, especially if the union is able to extend its organizational ability to the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.


David McNew/Getty Images

John Edwards on Friday in Los Angeles as members of the Service Employees International Union cheered his candidacy


Mr. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, has aggressively courted unions. Lagging in national polls behind his better-financed Democratic rivals, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, Mr. Edwards has looked to the unions as a way to amplify the campaign’s ground efforts.

“Twenty-four percent of the voting population in elections come from union households,” said Chris Chafe, a senior adviser to the campaign. “In the caucuses and primary states, the labor movement will be one of the only entities that is organized enough to deliver significant turnout and real votes.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/us/politics/20edwards.html?ref=us

[disndat]

1. We absolutely cannot

allow H. C. to become the Democratic nominee. The large Calif SEIOU support is great news. H.C. is the candidate of choice for the rigntwing and military industrial complex, their hedge against their first choice candidate, Guiliani, in case his campaign falters.

[Botany]

2. I loves me some John Edwards

Edwards means real change w/ a good man.

[Triana]

3. K & R - Great News! Edwards is da man (n/t)

[Elspeth]

4. I think all the unions should be behind Edwards right now

He's the only one that really addresses our core issues.

[David Zephyr]

5. Big endorsement.

Congrats.

[Myrina]

6. ... American workers and poor people don't need a president ...

... c'mon now, you're just being selfish.

We all know that HillObama machine will tell us what's best for us as our homes are foreclosed on, our credit card debt & living expenses rise, health care remains impossible to find, the educational infrastructure crumbles and our soldiers continue to die ...


:sarcasm:

[AzDar]

7. Go, Johnny go!