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While John Edwards never placed higher than 2nd in any Caucus or Primary this election season, his strong union message amplified throughout the race. But, despite his how the other half lives message, support he garnered among some unions did not translate into wins, or even very strong finishes.
While Edwards might have benefited from the multitude of unions in California, he chose to exit the race Wednesday, leaving a black hole of voters for which both Obama and Clinton continue to jockey.
Recently, the Los Angeles wing of the California Teachers Assn. switched allegiances from Clinton to Obama and now, that jockeying has apparently paid off for the Illinois Senator as the state council of the Service Employees International Union plans to endorse him later today, the AP is reporting.
The SEIU has about 650,000 members in California. Many are city, county and state workers, others are in-home support and health care workers. SEIU's backing could help Obama cut into Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the polls among Democratic base voters, many of whom are union members. Union officials said they plan a limited operation on Obama's behalf. They will urge their members to vote for Obama, but do not plan to do a wider get out the vote effort. [AP]
Picture of Obama via photo.monkey from Flickr.
