http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08054/859897-176.stmSaturday, February 23, 2008
By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Leon Lynch, a veteran United Steelworkers official, yesterday joined a growing band of Democratic superdelegates endorsing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, a movement that has eroded one of the early strengths of the campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In the weeks since Mr. Obama began his post-Super Tuesday streak of 11 straight primary and caucus victories, more that two dozen of the Democratic officials who automatically receive convention votes have moved into the Obama camp, according to a survey by the Associated Press. Earlier this week, Carol Ann Campbell, a former Philadelphia City Council member, announced her support for the Illinois senator.
"The collective judgment of those who had voted for him was more influential to me than anything else," Mr. Lynch said yesterday. "A little factor for me, too, is that he worked with the laid-off Steelworkers in Chicago," he added, referring to Mr. Obama's years as a community organizer. "My heart is with those people; I have a special appreciation for that.''
Mr. Lynch, who is retired from his position as an international vice president of the union, said he had discussed his decision with current USW officials, including President Leo Gerard, who, he said, told him to feel free to follow his own decision. The USW had endorsed former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards early in the campaign, and since his withdrawal from the race, both of the remaining Democratic campaigns have courted the union. Mr. Lynch said that while be believed that the issue hadn't been settled, he now expected the USW to remain neutral.
"I know there are some who want to endorse and some who don't," he said of the post-Edwards deliberations. "They have a complicated range of concerns."
Until his retirement in March 2006, Mr. Lynch was international vice president for human affairs, overseeing the union's civil rights and human rights efforts. Mr. Lynch, an African-American, said of his decision: "I try not to look at
as a factor, but I guess, in totality, it probably is. I can't help but feel a great deal of pride, because I think he is one of the products of the kind of things I've tried to achieve in my lifetime."
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