Huge Turnout in Iowa Caucuses (union households made up 22 percent of the vote)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/01/04/huge-turnout-in-iowa-caucuses-obama-huckabee-winners/

by Seth Michaels, Jan 4, 2008

The first votes of 2008 are in, and the winners of Iowa’s caucuses are Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on the Democratic side and former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.) on the Republican side. As the first contest of the 2008 presidential race, the Iowa caucuses set off what is sure to be a competitive primary process.



The record participation in these caucuses proves the demand for change in the country from the past seven years of the Bush administration’s anti-working family agenda. With the health care system in crisis and the economy failing working families, Iowa voters came out in unprecedented numbers to demand new policies and a new agenda.

AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney had this to say about the remarkable participation in Iowa’s caucuses:

The amazing turnout in Iowa is a great sign that voters are determined to take our country in a new direction. The energy we’re seeing is an emphatic, exhilarating rejection of the Bush agenda.

The Democratic race was marked by record turnout, with 239,000 attendees—a 93 percent increase over the 2004 turnout figures. The Republican caucuses drew 115,000 voters, also a record.

snip According to exit polling by MSNBC, members of union households made up 22 percent of the vote. (Union households make up 15 percent of Iowa’s voting-age population, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.) Obama and Clinton tied for first among these voters, with 30 percent each; Edwards won 24 percent of union household members.

For reaction from labor leaders in Iowa, check out Workers Independent News.

FULL story at link.