Culinary union can't muscle win

[KennedyGuy]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7999.html

Before dawn, the Culinary Union’s army of organizers gathered in the large second-story hall of its Las Vegas headquarters. Members lined up for coffee and doughnuts, a kind of last meal before making the final push for the union’s endorsed candidate, Sen. Barack Obama.

Their organizing packets contained a flier that read: “Culinary Members Are Sticking Together! Culinary Members’ Voices Will Be Heard!”

The members were heard — but not in the way the union’s leadership had hoped.

Sen. Hillary Clinton won seven of the nine at-large caucus sites on the Strip, sites her husband had derided as giving disproportionate influence to the 60,000-strong union. She won Nevada by six percentage points.

In short, the Culinary didn’t deliver.

“I’m not going to make excuses,” said Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor. “You have to give credit to the Clinton campaign. She won.”

The ramifications will be felt for some time, as the union now faces a divided membership and perceptions of lost clout after months of carefully cultivating its image as Nevada’s political kingmaker. (Another line from the flier boasted, “Culinary Members Will Elect Barack Obama!”)

To be sure, the union is still fresh off bargaining victories, and has the upper hand as it now negotiates a new contract with the troubled owners of the Tropicana. The union will still be a powerful player, but the loss is real.

Union officials are doing a good deal of soul-searching, analyzing what led to a fairly calamitous result.

[panader0]

1. Union members are not required to vote for whomever their

leadership endorses, and they can't be fired for it either.

[thunder rising]

2. muscle win? and soul-searching? for an honest campaign? What?

They endorsed Obama and donated some coffee, donuts and I would guess music and speeches (union folks gotta speechify).