Obama Comes Up Short on Union Support
According to the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama's appeal among Democrats is undeniable. He's near the top of every poll and he packs rooms wherever he goes. But a vital piece of the Democratic power establishment isn't showing him any love: labor unions.
With the Iowa caucuses just over two weeks away, the Illinois senator is the only top-tier Democratic candidate who has not been endorsed by a national union.
Such endorsements are prized because of the manpower, money and attention they can garner for candidates in the early voting states such as Iowa and Nevada. For example, the political arm of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, spent $250,000 to air television ads in Iowa urging her victory.
And Clinton has nine other well-heeled national unions in her camp, while former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has four national union endorsements.
Obama, meanwhile, has had to make do with city chapters like the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association of New York City and Illinois state chapters of the American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME and the Service Employees International Union. Other state chapters of the service employees union behind Obama include those in Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Kansas...click to continue.
