I have asked this question about the AFT before,

[sadoldgirl]

but never got an explanation. I don't refer to the poll,
but to the AFT website, which claims to have worked
since FEBRUARY on reaching out to its members.

Who had declared their candidacy at that time?

How did they know, which candidates would run?

How did they know, what each of these candidates
would say about education?

The claim is that they reached about 1,000,000 members.
When???

[JaneyVee]

1. Here:

http://www.aft.org/questions-and-answers-about-afts-endorsement-hillary-clinton

[sadoldgirl]

4. Fine, this does not explain the effort in February

when NOBODY had declared.

Again: How did they know then who would run?

[JaneyVee]

19. Their endorsement is also based on who they believe has....

A better chance at defeating Republicans. I suggest you work your way around that site clicking links and downloading pdf's.

[LWolf]

31. Unfortunately,

it may also be based on cronyism. At the least, it sure as hell looks that way.

[arcane1]

5. Nowhere in that link are the answers to the questions in the OP

If I'm wrong, I missed it. Can you copy/paste the answers?

[virtualobserver]

2. Randi Weingarten...President of the AFT....joined the Board of Ready for Hillary- Jan 2014

....maybe she heard about it there.


she also says she knew about Hillary's secret email address, before the NYT article

https://twitter.com/rweingarten/status/576525445723774976

maybe Hillary kept her updated by email.

[arcane1]

10. This is one reason why Super-PACs and Citizens United are bad things and we shouldn't "play along

The paid employee of a Super-PAC is going to endorse that PAC's candidate. Paid endorsements are notoriously unreliable.

[Agschmid]

3. Probably since February, it seems you answered your own question...

[sadoldgirl]

6. NOBODY had declared in February

So how did they know who would run?

Biden could have been a good bet at that time,
so could have S. Brown.

This does not answer the interesting question
of that extremely early timing to contact their
members.

[Agschmid]

8. It's not considering they asked more than just "what candidate do you support"...

But you'd have to read the links that have been posted to know that, and it seems you haven't.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. I guess Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb have a beef./nt

[sadoldgirl]

11. No beef, just my questions

It would be kind of weird if they knew already
that HRC would be running, but nobody else
had been mentioned, would you not agree?

[Agschmid]

12. No because they started asking about issues...

Please, I beg you, read the links.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. I suspect that they suspected what most of us suspected and that is she would run.

And if she didn't run they could have just used O'Malley and Sanders and whomever in their scientific polls...

[JaneyVee]

21. It wasn't about candidates, it was a questionnaire on 14 progressive principals.

[Gman]

16. Everyone with a TV or Internet knew

who was running if they cared to pay attention.

[sadoldgirl]

20. I paid attention alright,

but that does not mean that they knew, how
"supposed" candidates would respond to the
issues.

Did they ask Biden for instance? All this is
rather murky to me.
So was HRC the only one with the "correct"
answers at that time?

I would really like to hear from someone who
got one of these calls.

[sufrommich]

7. Worked since February on reaching out to its members about what?

Were they asking about specific candidates in February or were they asking their members about issues?

[sadoldgirl]

13. Okay, let us say that they asked about issues.

How did they know then, how other candidates would respond to these
at that time?

[sufrommich]

18. They probably didn't know how the candidates would respond

in February. It sounds like they started tho process in Feb. and ended it in July. The fact that they started in Feb. doesn't mean they knew who the candidates would be.I don't understand how you came to the conclusion that specific candidates were being discussed at the very beginning of the process.

[JaneyVee]

22. They just held a meeting in July.

[sadoldgirl]

25. Okay, but let us say that

VP Biden stills steps in or any other dem. Their
answers would not be considered, right?

[JaneyVee]

29. They feel the need to start mobilizing early.

The stakes are critical this election: http://www.aft.org/resolution/endorsement-hillary-clinton

[sadoldgirl]

30. Well, in that case I shall

call this a "preemptive strike", which is totally unfair
to the members. After all, they pay their dues and should
have a lot to say about this.

Yes, yes, I know it is like paying taxes without being
able to designate where they should go.

Thank you for your rather honest answer!

[JaneyVee]

32. It's actually very fair to its members, or...

About as fair as it could get. These are elected delegates. Obviously they're not going to make everyone happy at all times. It's just an endorsement, I'm sure the members who support Bernie will vote for Bernie. And yes, that's a good metaphor about taxes and spending.

[arcane1]

14. I've been wondering that myself. Maybe that's why they say "her nearest Democratic competitor" here:

"Additionally, the AFT commissioned a scientific survey of members by Hart Research Associates. The results of the survey provide a clear picture of where AFT members stand.

First, by an approximately 3-to-1 margin, AFT members prefer that a Democratic candidate win the presidential election over a Republican.

79 percent of Democratic voters support the AFT making a recommendation in the primary.

Among those voters, Hillary Clinton is preferred by members by a margin of more than 3-to-1 over her nearest Democratic competitor.

Furthermore, Hillary Clinton holds a better than 11-to-1 advantage as the "Democrat with the best chance to defeat the Republican candidate.""
http://www.aft.org/questions-and-answers-about-afts-endorsement-hillary-clinton

Maybe that's the February poll, and the other candidates were hypothetical?

[sadoldgirl]

17. Well, I don't know, but that sounds

reasonable. Yet, how could they know what the
so called "nearest competitor" would say?

And yes I read all of this, but it still leaves my
questions unanswered.

[JaneyVee]

23. No, if you download the pdf you will see polling was conducted June 22-27 2015.

Followed by a meeting with all candidates in July, then an endorsement.

[arcane1]

26. Thanks! What is the February poll about?

[sadoldgirl]

27. I realize that.

Let me make it quite clear, that I am NOT talking about the poll,
rather about their calls to 1,000,000 members, which they
claim to have done.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. It sounds like a fool's errand-calling 1,000,000 people.

I wonder what the response rate was...

That's why scientific polls make more sense...

[arcane1]

28. PS: There are no pdf's at my link. Where can I get them?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

24. You would think that they would wait until some more candidates were on board?

they need to re-do it

[Thinkingabout]

33. The polls was conducted in June. It may surprise you but many unions works full time on political

Issues, monitoring activity occurring in DC and local areas also. They do a lot of this to protect the interest of their members. It is not unusual for unions to endorse candidates.

[sadoldgirl]

35. That is understood, however

this decision for support was unusually fast and early.
I have to say that the preemptory Strike idea is quite
appropriate here, whether you or anyone else tries to
rationalize it away or not. I hope that there will be enough of
a revolt by the teachers to make the DC leaders of the
union think twice.

Have a lovely evening.

[Thinkingabout]

38. Have you committed? I have.

[murielm99]

37. Actually, there are many union offices that close

during the summer. They do not keep a full staff. Therefore, if they close for eight weeks, they would conduct a survey in June and have the results soon after. The dates for the survey are logical.

When I was involved with the Democratic party at the county level, we had a fundraiser in August or September. We sent out the letters to the unions requesting ticket purchases and attendance very early. Otherwise, the letters might have sat unread in a mailbox all summer.

Maybe that was not your experience, but it was mine, as briefly as five years ago. I know this is still true in my area.

[Thinkingabout]

39. The union I am associated with goes year round, it is not a teachers union but typically some one is

Always trying to sneak something in before they are caught.

[HooptieWagon]

34. Hmmm

http://reverbpress.com/politics/aft-endorsement-clinton-shows-lack-democratic-process/

[sadoldgirl]

36. Thank you, that is quite an interesting

article, unfortunately we have to count on very
new evolution from the HRC camp to make it sound
totally acceptable.

I really wonder how many new revelations will
come our way, without any solid former
investigations or even media checks.

Ah well, she is a brand new Hillary, without
any past.