ABC: Obama endorsed by Culinary Workers Union

[Colobo]

Obama Endorsed by Culinary Workers Union
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Share January 09, 2008 9:11 AM

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Sunlen Miller Report: Despite losing Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, Sen. Barack Obama secured the endorsement of the Culinary Workers union.

The endorsement of the 60,000-member Culinary Workers union is seen as the biggest get in Nevada, a state which votes Jan. 19.

At 11 p.m. E.T. on Tuesday, a 12-member panel which controls the 60,000-member Culinary Workers union held a conference call to decide which '08 candidate to endorse.

The panel making the decision is the executive committee of UNITE-HERE, Culinary's parent union.

“We believe that Obama is the candidate who can bring the country together and we are proud to support his candidacy," Shauna Hamel, Executive Vice President of the union says.

The backing of the 60,000-member union is seen as important because the state's Democratic Party is only expecting 40,000 Democrats to participate in the caucuses.

Culinary's members work in casinos up and down the Las Vegas Strip.

Obama will travel to Las Vegas on Friday to formally accept the endorsement.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/01/obama-endorsed.html

[Colobo]

1. Yeah.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Fantastic

:thumbsup:

[ShortnFiery]

3. YES!!! This is BIG!

Go Obama! :applause: :patriot: :applause:

[Alter Ego]

4. WOOP

sorry.

[PresidentObama]

5. Wow, two big Nevada endorsements in a row. Kudos Obama!!

Fired up, ready to go!!

I don't support him, but I always wanted to say that.

:)

[Tess99]

6. Awesome!

[cali]

7. fanfuckingtastic

This really puts NV in play.

[PresidentObama]

8. Good. GOBAMA in Nevada!!

[cali]

11. Thanks, Kerry

I admire your realistic loyalty to Edwards- a lot.

[Elspeth]

9. Well, at least the Obama campaign will be getting some good food

:)

[DivorcingNeo]

10. Congrats to him...

but I don't put much stock in endorsements. I just want the Senator to get sharp on relaying his future policies if he is elected President. I want him to work on letting the American people know straight forward what his record has been in the Illinois State legislature and in the U.S Senate.

I think he's a great candidate but unless the entire country clearly and concisely knows what he stands for, what his political record has been and what he will do if elected, then nothing will matter and he'll get steam rolled by the Clinton machine.

[origin1286]

14. The CWU and the SEIU

Make up about 72,000 voters. Even assuming no overlap, since only 40,000 democrats are expected to participate, Obama wins even if Hillary takes them all (since independents everywhere are typically breaking for Obama in high numbers). That is assuming every union member votes and that they vote with their union, but I never underestimate their cohesiveness.

[DivorcingNeo]

20. Well I guess

That puts things into perspective. Thanks for the information.

[AtomicKitten]

12. It will ensure that Nevada hearts Obama.

Gobama!

[Colobo]

13. Gobama!

[zulchzulu]

15. Excellent news! Congrats Barack!

That's a great endorsement.

[ButterflyBlood]

16. YES! YES!

We're still in this one folks!

[sandnsea]

17. It's good to be wrong!!

and pleasantly surprised. Yippee. Maybe this will start a different shift in union support, which should obviously be with Edwards or Obama.

[Bullet1987]

18. Does anybody have a stat of previous candidates the SEIU and CWU

have endorsed and whether or not they won.

[sandnsea]

19. Nevada is unique this year

It's never been this important in the process because it's never been early. Last time Kerry had momentum from several wins. You can't really compare Nevada to other states as far as unions, because so much of Nevada is the hospitality industry. So we'll just have to see I guess.