LA Times: State by state, a powerful union comes to Edwards' aid

[Omaha Steve]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/10/state-by-state-.html

State by state, a powerful union comes to Edwards' aid

John Edwards suffered a blow last week when the the Service Employees International Union decided it would make no national endorsement in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. But his concerted effort to embrace causes espoused by the labor group -- which represents a wide swath of healthcare workers, as well as janitors, various government employees and others -- has paid off after all.

SEIU leaders at the state level were given free rein to back a candidate, and early today Edwards was rewarded with the nod from the Iowa chapter. Every little bit helps in the state where the nomination battle officially begins, but the union is not exactly a heavy hitter in Iowa -- it boasts only about 2,000 members.

Turns out, though, the move by the Iowans was simply the start of a deluge. This afternoon, SEIU chapters in nine states signed up to help Edwards -- including California (656,000 members), Washington state (103,000 members), Michigan (70,000 members) and Oregon (46,000 members).

Look for a fair number of these folks to be making plane reservations to Des Moines -- the SEIU's national leaders ruled that chapters endorsing the same candidate can join forces on behalf of their choice.

Conversely, a chapter that lines up behind a particular candidate cannot engage in political work in a state where the SEIU members have made a different pick.

This is bad news for Barack Obama, who today won the support of the Illinois and Indiana union chapters (combined, they have about 170,000 members).

FULL story at link.