WASHINGTON (AP) -- Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt retain their top tier status, but an endorsement for the Democratic presidential nomination from the largest union in the AFL-CIO will have to wait, union leaders have decided.þþService Employees International Union President Andy Stern said Wednesday that members weren't ready to commit to any of the nine vying to challenge President Bush next year.þþA survey of 1,500 SEIU conference participants this week found Dean and Gephardt the top contenders along with John Edwards, who pushed John Kerry off the list. Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, was an early favorite among several powerful union leaders.þþRankings and vote totals in the latest survey were not disclosed.þþThe endorsement delay reflects the growing popularity of Dean, who is intriguing union leaders with his ability to raise money from the Internet and the size of crowds he is attracting.þþMany members arrived this week already enthusiastic about the former Vermont governor and after hearing him ``their enthusiasm is unabated,'' Stern said.þþDean is positioned now, as front-runner, to deny Gephardt the union support the former House Minority Leader seeks.þþThe Missouri congressman has won 12 union endorsements so far, mostly from trades and industrial unions. Yet the large and growing public and service sector unions remain hesitant to embrace Gephardt's second run for the White House.þþGephardt's speech Monday to an SEIU conference was well-received, and his support among members increased, Stern said.þþPlagued with questions about his ability to excite Democratic voters, Gephardt has turned up the fire in his public appearances, pounding on lecterns, shaking his fists and loudly denouncing Bush.þþBut whether that's enough to win over leaders of the large unions he needs get an AFL-CIO endorsement next month is in question.þþAs for Edwards, SEIU members before Monday didn't know much about the North Carolina senator. But he ``introduced himself powerfully, and moved from having almost no support to being one of the top three candidates that the members leaving this conference are interested in,'' Stern said.þþHe added that Kerry, who has lost his front-runner status to Dean, still had a lot of rank-and-file support in the union, with the rankings reflecting just the views of the 1,500 leaders at the conference.þþThe wild card remains Wesley Clark. Stern said his union would take a serious look at the retired Army general who has been flirting with a run. Clark was invited to speak to members, but did not attend. SEIU leaders hope to meet with him in the next week or two, Stern said. Clark has promised to reveal his plans by the end of next week.þþ
Source: NY Times
