John Edwards Continues to Gain Major Union Support
This is another reason why John Edwards is best suited to win the first primaries and thus the nomination. You can't buy help like this!
With the support of just California's SEIU, suddenly Edwards has gotten 1/3 of the national SEIU support. This comes close after stories that claimed that the SEIU had snubbed Edwards. No, what the SEIU did was say that it would not make a decision and let the state SEIUs decide on their own. And deciding they are -- for Edwards.
As of last week, half of SEIU (almost 1 million members) had thrown its support behind Edwards. According to this New York Times story on October 19, 2007:
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.
The reason why all candidates have courted the unions is because you cannot buy this kind of support no matter how much money you've raised. And Senator Edwards has been the most successful in lining up support:
“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.”
Last month, the union’s national board, which represents nearly 1.9 million workers, voted to leave it up to state councils to decide whom to back. On Monday, union leaders said state councils in California, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana Ohio, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia, which represent half of the union’s membership, had endorsed Mr. Edwards.
Mr. Edwards’s other endorsements include the Transport Workers Union of America, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America, his campaign said.