The Service Employees International Union gave Barack Obama its highly prized endorsement on Friday afternoon.þThe S.E.I.U.’s endorsement is especially coveted because the union has 1.9 million members and has a rank-and-file that is far more politically active than most other unions’. Moreover, its political action committee is expected to collect more than $30 million this campaign, making it one of the biggest PACs in the nation.þIn a telephone news conference announcing the endorsement, Andy Stern, the union’s president, said: “This is about more than one election. It’s about building for the next generation of America. Barack Obama is creating the broadest and deepest coalition of voters we’ve ever seen.”þThe union’s executive board cast ballots by email and fax on Thursday night, and union officials were unable to finish the tallying until Friday.þWith John Lewis, the Democratic Congressman from Georgia and former civil rights leader, indicating on Thursday that he intends to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Mr. Obama, the S.E.I.U.’s endorsement is expected to further build momentum for Mr. Obama after his wins in eight consecutive contests. Mr. Stern, like Mr. Lewis, said it would not be a good idea for superdelegates to ultimately choose the nominee in what could be a highly divided Democratic convention in August.þ“We think the voters should make the decision, not elected officials and superdelegates,” Mr. Stern said in an interview. “We are very much hoping that by the time we get through the primaries, we will have a nominee without having to count on the superdelegates to make a decision. It would be a bad proposition for America and certainly for the Democratic Party.” þLast October, the service employees’ executive board was too divided among Mr. Obama, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards to agree on an endorsement. But the board did give the union’s state chapters the go-ahead to make endorsements on their own. Many SEIU members and state chapters backed Mr. Edwards, and his withdrawal from the race helped pave the way for the endorsement of Mr. Obama.þ“The fact this race was this close mattered,” Mr. Stern said. “The states that are coming up are states where the S.E.I.U. thinks it can make a difference, particularly Pennsylvania, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and Texas. And clearly there was the response we’re getting from our members and leaders that some synergy had been created and people were very anxious and excited about getting into this race.”þMr. Stern estimated that the S.E.I.U. has about 150,000 in the states with primaries over the next two months.þThe service employees’ chapters in Nevada and California endorsed Mr. Obama shortly before contests in those states. Nonetheless, Mrs. Clinton won both those states, with the union’s leaders saying that if they had made that endorsement several weeks, rather than several days, before those contests, that might have given them time to mount a campaign that made a big difference. þThe union’s New York chapter was the only S.E.I.U. chapter to endorse Mrs. Clinton, helping her rack up a big victory in the state’s primary on Feb. 5. Union officials said that New York S.E.I.U. leaders abstained in Thursday’s endorsement vote.þMr. Stern acknowledged that there were no major policy differences between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton on labor-related issues.þ“This is not about specific positions alone. This is about the right person at the right time. We think this is an opportunity for fundamental change in this country, pulling our America back together, reengaging a generation of young people who have been out of the system a long time and exciting our members who feel very hopeful about changing America.”þ“This is a moment for America to get to where it needs to go, and Barack Obama is the one to take us there,” he added.þOn Thursday, another large union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, with 1.1 million members in the United States, also endorsed Mr. Obama. As a result of these two endorsements, as well as that of Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant, apparel and laundry workers, Mr. Obama has the backing of three unions that have large Hispanic memberships and especially strong ties to the nation’s immigrant community. þThe Change to Win Coalition, the group of unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., is scheduled to hold a conference call next week to determine whether to endorse a candidate. þThree of the unions in the coalition — the service employees, Unite Here and the food and commercial workers — have backed Mr. Obama, but three other large unions in the coalition, the Teamsters, the laborers and the carpenters, have not. As a result, Change to Win might not be able to generate sufficient support to give Mr. Obama a coalitionwide endorsement.þ
Source: NY Times
