Obama poised to get big union nod
Barack Obama is expected to get a key union endorsement this afternoon, several news organizations are reporting.
The support of the 1.8-million-member Service Employees International Union could boost his efforts to overtake Hillary Clinton in Ohio and Texas, which vote March 4, and Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22. Those three states are looking more and more as the last stand for Clinton, who trails Obama in delegates, popular votes, states won, and campaign cash.
Clinton is moving to a more economic populist message as she appeals to blue-collar workers, so the union endorsements could help Obama rebut that argument.
One SEIU official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told the Associated Press that Obama was "99 percent" likely to get the endorsement. John Edwards, before he suspended his campaign, coveted the national SEIU endorsement, but never received it. State SEIU chapters, however, became active in key states, including Iowa and New Hampshire.
Thursday, Obama won the support of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with significant membership in the upcoming Democratic battlegrounds.
According to the Associated Press, the 1.3-million member UFCW has 69,000 members in Ohio and another 26,000 in Texas and also has 19,000 members in Wisconsin, which holds a primary Tuesday. The union is made up of supermarket workers and meatpackers, with 40 percent of the membership under 30 years old. Obama has been doing especially well among young voters.