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It's Official: SEIU Won't Endorse

08 Oct 2007 05:03 pm

The nation's largest union won't make a unified endorsement and will instead let its local unions choose their own adventures. Credit (or blame) rank-and-file enthusiasm for Barack Obama and the growing (fair or unfair) perception that Hillary Clinton is walking away with the nomination. The SEIU endorsement was coveted by ex-Sen. John Edwards; it will not be his.

CHICAGO – Citing the strength of the presidential field on the key issues for working families, and the importance of the 2008 election on the future of America, SEIU local unions will decide on presidential primary endorsements on a state-by-state basis.

“The outcome of this election will decide whether we finally achieve comprehensive, affordable healthcare for everyone, whether we bring economic security and fairness to working people, whether we bring our sons and daughters home from a civil war in Iraq, and whether working people in America finally have the freedom to form unions without intimidation,” said SEIU President Andy Stern. “Given the importance of this election, we are encouraging members and leaders to act on their passion for the candidates and get involved on a statewide basis.”

SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger said: “Any one of these candidates would help create a new American dream for workers and their families. Once we have a nominee, SEIU members and leaders will launch the largest and most comprehensive campaign in our history to help elect a president who truly cares about working families.”

Local unions in each state will decide in a democratic process whether and/or whom to endorse. Endorsement decisions will not be announced before October 15. States that endorse will engage in positive campaign activities on behalf of their endorsed candidate in their state.

SEIU members will continue their commitment to changing America by working together on key issues, such as overriding President Bush’s veto of children’s healthcare, and mobilizing for SEIU’s largest grassroots effort in history to elect a pro-worker president.

Already the top presidential candidates have been more involved with SEIU members than ever before, including being interviewed by members and walking a day in a member’s shoes at work and home.

Comments (13)

Wow! What a bunch of pusssies. No wonder democrats always lose.

it's cowardly moves like this that makes one wonder

I don't know how much of this can be chalked up to rank-and-file Obama enthusiasm -- Edwards, after all, won the vote among the membership. It's just that the people at the top are afraid to be remembered by Hillary as disrupting her coronation.

This is the biggest blow to Edweards yet. Now it's a matter of time...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

This just shows how pitiful the Democrats are.

http://www.newyorkforhuckabee.blogspot.com

Backstabbing ingrates. I hope they enjoy Secretary of Labor Mark Penn.

What a bunch of losers.

I am referring to the "leadership." Neil gets it exactly right.

FICTION ALERT: Marc is correct that there was strong rank-and file sentiment for Obama. Those who are posting that Edwards "won" the vote of "the rank and file" are tellingly not citing any sources. If you have a reliable source showing that there was a proper poll of the rank and file of the union and that Edwards won that poll, I'll retract. The best evidence I've seen is that the Executive Board was more pro-Edwards than the rank-and-file members and chose not to endorse out of deference to the rank and file, not the other way around as some of the Edwards die-hards are claiming. So an Edwards endorsement would have been a sign of an imperial E-Board, not a democratic one.

The most definitive reporting I've seen on this is Marc's, which says: "Sources close to the SEIU executive board would not tell me whether Edwards or Obama scored higher in the poll but did acknowledge that both had polled the highest. An SEIU spokesperson said the union would not reveal the results."

More important than the inside baseball is this question: In a year where there is more than one solidly pro-labor candidate in the Democratic Party, does it even make sense for a union to expend considerable resources (20 or 30 million dollars) in the Democratic primaries for one particular candidate? Suppose all of the unions declared any of the three front-runners acceptable and marshaled their resources to getting a fillibuster-proof or near fillibuster proof Democratic Senate? That strikes me as money better spent, especially because a couple of Repubs, like Specter, often vote with the Dems on key labor issues, so that a 57-59 Democratic Senate plus any of the three front runners for Prez could accomplish a hell of a lot.

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