Yesterday the influential SEIU (Service Employees International Union - 1.9 million members) held its presidential forum in D.C.
"Speculation hangs in the air here; the union says it will be making a primary endorsement in October, and of course, Edwards is a favorite among many labor activists," commented Dana Goldstein on TAPPED, but, she added, the question was, "after feeling burnt by their early Dean endorsement last time around, will the SEIU take a risk for '08?"
Obama took the stage, as did Richardson, Hillary, Edwards and Chris Dodd. And apparently, it was quite the event. Enthusing reading!
EDWARDS GETS NEEDED IA NOD
October 13, 2007
MSNBC
[On] Monday [..], John Edwards will get SEIU-Iowa nod and the endorsement of other state affiliates, according to multiple sources. [..] No campaign needed this organizational boost more than Edwards since he financially can't keep up with Clinton and Obama in Iowa.
Iowa SEIU to Give Edwards the Nod
14 October 2007
theGarance
This is the best news the John Edwards campaign has had in some time. The endorsement will have several positive results: 1) strengthening Edwards on the ground organizationally; 2) providing a conduit for the SEIU locals in Nevada and California that are likely to endorse him to funnel their enthusiasm into Iowa; and 3) creating a momentum signal to the press not to count Edwards out.
There's also the scissors-paper-rock element of the endorsement, in that it effectively blocks the powerful Chicago SEIU locals from streaming into the state on Barack Obama's behalf (under union rules, the locals get to call the shots about who operates on whose behalf in which states, so the local endorsements in the early primary states matter most). The Illinois locals will still be able to be a major help to the Obama campaign, by doing phone-banking or other work that allows his Iowa forces to concentrate on other matters, but overall the net boon to the Edwards campaign will be about as big as could be hoped for in the absence of a national endorsement.
Key SEIU councils back Edwards
October 15, 2007
Chicago Tribune
Unable to secure an endorsement on the national level, Democratic presidential contender John Edwards was still able to gain the backing Monday of 10 state councils of the politically powerful Service Employees International Union, including those of Iowa, California, Michigan and Ohio. [..]
While there are only about 2,000 SEIU members in Iowa, largely concentrated at medical centers in the eastern part of the state [..] state councils that have endorsed the same contender can work together, meaning Edwards could benefit in Iowa from on-the-ground political manpower from the SEIU's 70,000 members in Michigan, 28,000 workers in Minnesota and 22,000 in Ohio as well as receive long-distance help from union members in West Coast states, including California's 656,000 members. [..]
"He's made the fight for working families his own fight," said Cathy Classon, the head of SEIU Local 199 in Iowa, contending other Democratic candidates "tended to be more cautious or politically calculated in their positions."
S.E.I.U. Labor Groups in 10 States Endorse Edwards
New York Times
October 15, 2007
Not only did John Edwards receive the endorsement today of the Iowa state chapter of the service employees union, but he also has garnered the backing of nine other state chapters of the S.E.I.U, including the biggest prize of all, the S.E.I.U. council in California, which represents 650,000 workers. [..]
The S.E.I.U. is considered extremely politically active, and these 10 state councils that endorsed Mr. Edwards represent 1 million workers, or more than half its national membership. [..]
"California S.E.I.U. members know that John Edwards will be the best labor president in the history of the United States," said Sal Rosselli, president of the biggest S.E.I.U. local in California. "His proposals are far and away the best among the candidates on the issues that matter most to working Americans." [..]
Although Mr. Edwards trails far behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in national polls, he is neck and neck with them in Iowa. Indeed, the Edwards campaign has made no secret that it is putting a lot of resources in the early states in an effort to achieve an upset victory to help give it momentum in other states.
Far more than any other candidate, Mr. Edwards has staked his campaign on labor endorsements. He has marched on scores of union picket lines and moved quickly to endorse one of labor's main goals: universal health coverage.
Largest Union in California Says It Will Work for Edwards There and Elsewhere
The New York Times
19 October
The state council of the Service Employees International Union publicly threw its weight behind John Edwards's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Friday and said it would rally its members here and in other states, including those holding early primaries, to support his campaign.
The union is the largest in California, with 656,000 members. Its backing is a significant achievement for Mr. Edwards, especially if the union is able to extend its organizational ability to the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. [..]
"Twenty-four percent of the voting population in elections come from union households," said Chris Chafe, a senior adviser to the campaign. "In the caucuses and primary states, the labor movement will be one of the only entities that is organized enough to deliver significant turnout and real votes."
Last month, the union's national board, which represents nearly 1.9 million workers, voted to leave it up to state councils to decide whom to back. On Monday, union leaders said state councils in California, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana Ohio, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia, which represent half of the union's membership, had endorsed Mr. Edwards.
Mr. Edwards's other endorsements include the Transport Workers Union of America, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the United Steelworkers and the United Mine Workers of America, his campaign said.
But there is still plenty of terrain to cover, with other unions divided over whom to endorse. The A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s executive council, for instance, voted in August against endorsing any presidential candidate, setting the stage for its 55 member unions to make individual endorsements. [..]
The service employees' union represents low-wage workers like home health aides, security guards and janitors. Sal Rosselli, president of the California state S.E.I.U., said a priority was better access to health care. The local will now mobilize its field operations to produce DVD's, conduct calling campaigns, produce mailings and hold work site meetings, he said.
"That's our job now," Mr. Rosselli said in an interview. "To go to our 656,000 members in California and their families and help them understand our experience with John Edwards and what he stands for."
They would also reach out to other states, including Nevada, which has a Democratic caucus scheduled for Jan. 19, Mr. Rosselli said. He also said he met this week with S.E.I.U. leaders in Iowa. "We have significant resources that we can now share with Iowa and other states that are supporting John Edwards," he said.
Mr. Edwards helped tip support in his favor with the California local by being first to announce a comprehensive health care plan, Mr. Rosselli said.
Monique Ozier, 37, a nurse and S.E.I.U. member in Los Angeles, said that Mr. Edwards had walked picket lines several times with security guards there and that his wife, Elizabeth, had written a letter to lift the spirits of nurses picketing in Pomona Valley.
In every answer in the debate so far, Clinton has referenced Bush ... Clinton's strategy in this debate appears to be to avoid any direct confrontation with her rivals (despite them doing their damndest to engage her) and instead keep her eye on the lead bogeyman for Democratic voters -- President Bush.
Quote:In every answer in the debate so far, Clinton has referenced Bush ... Clinton's strategy in this debate appears to be to avoid any direct confrontation with her rivals (despite them doing their damndest to engage her) and instead keep her eye on the lead bogeyman for Democratic voters -- President Bush.
Have the Dems forgotten something?
Bush is not on the ballot, nor will he be running for any political office.
Making him the bogeyman seems to be a waste of time, since he isnt going to be a candidate.
There are some on the right who still defend his policies. Do you think them ill advised, just because Bush isn't on the next ballot?
I watched the debate in its entirety which I hadn't done with the earlier ones.
It's interesting to note woiyo's and brand's take on the debate. Woiyo appears not to have watched it though brand may have. Guys?
Yesterday, I drove from Portland to Vancouver and back, about ten hours on the road and tuned into Rush for a couple of hours. He talked about little else other than the debate. My guess is that woiyo has his interpretation of the debate via Rush, or others like Rush. Same commentary.
Of the sources nimh quotes above, probably Marshall's notions match mine most closely. None of the others can match her in wonk, she's clearly the match of her husband in that regard. Because her knowledge is so incredibly broad and deep, there's a level of confidence she has which the others don't have. Edwards is good in this sort of venue but Obama's 'stage gifts' (let's say) seem at this point still to be mainly in speechifying and in personal interaction.
The media folks were clearly attempting to make sparks and russert's very first question clued us into that. But that's what they want because it serves their audience ratings criterion.
You guess wrong there Sparky!
Hillary has no shot at the general election. I hate to say it but the media destroyed her on that debate. www.polijam.com had a ton of links from different news outlets showing the other dems getting ready to pounce on her. She will get by the primary but will be wounded. And Rudy won that debate anyway by being mentioned so many times. It helps him in the primary for the GOP ticket. Her camp better get their stuff together. She needs to answer questions about her policy without constantly going back and forth.
Hillary has no shot at the general election. I hate to say it but the media destroyed her on that debate. www.polijam.com had a ton of links from different news outlets showing the other dems getting ready to pounce on her. She will get by the primary but will be wounded. And Rudy won that debate anyway by being mentioned so many times. It helps him in the primary for the GOP ticket. Her camp better get their stuff together. She needs to answer questions about her policy without constantly going back and forth.
Clinton would cream Giuliani, poll finds
By: David Paul Kuhn
Oct 31, 2007 04:40 PM EST
Updated: November 1, 2007 09:27 AM EST
Republican popularity at its lowest level in a generation, huge study by Pew reveals.
One year before voters go to the polls to select the next president, the Republican Party is as weak as it has been in a generation, a detailed new poll suggests.
It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
And when it was over, both the Barack Obama and John Edwards campaigns signaled that in the weeks ahead they intend to hammer home a simple message: Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.
And she gave them plenty of ammunition Tuesday night.
Asked whether she still agrees with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton launched into a long, complicated defense of it.
But when Chris Dodd attacked the idea a moment later, Clinton quickly said: "I did not say that it should be done."
It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
And when it was over, both the Barack Obama and John Edwards campaigns signaled that in the weeks ahead they intend to hammer home a simple message: Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.
And she gave them plenty of ammunition Tuesday night.
Asked whether she still agrees with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton launched into a long, complicated defense of it.
But when Chris Dodd attacked the idea a moment later, Clinton quickly said: "I did not say that it should be done."
NBC's Tim Russert, one of the debate moderators, jumped in and said to her: "You told (a) New Hampshire paper that it made a lot of sense. Do you support his plan?"
blatham, woiyo is good at plagiarizing is what it is
woiyo wrote:It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
And when it was over, both the Barack Obama and John Edwards campaigns signaled that in the weeks ahead they intend to hammer home a simple message: Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.
And she gave them plenty of ammunition Tuesday night.
Asked whether she still agrees with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton launched into a long, complicated defense of it.
But when Chris Dodd attacked the idea a moment later, Clinton quickly said: "I did not say that it should be done."
http://www.drudge.com/news/100240/simon-clinton-bombs-debate
Quote:It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
And when it was over, both the Barack Obama and John Edwards campaigns signaled that in the weeks ahead they intend to hammer home a simple message: Hillary Clinton does not say what she means or mean what she says.
And she gave them plenty of ammunition Tuesday night.
Asked whether she still agrees with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton launched into a long, complicated defense of it.
But when Chris Dodd attacked the idea a moment later, Clinton quickly said: "I did not say that it should be done."
NBC's Tim Russert, one of the debate moderators, jumped in and said to her: "You told (a) New Hampshire paper that it made a lot of sense. Do you support his plan?"
what a putz
Unlike you, I look at things objectively and what I saw during the "debate" was Hillary unwilling or unable to answer a simple question definitively Yes or No.
Excerpt:
Immigration: From talking point to sore point
At NBC debate, Clinton struggles to court various groups key to campaign
MSNBC
It was a moment that crystallized Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's struggles in Tuesday night's debate. Questioned about a plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, Mrs. Clinton at first seemed to defend it, then suggested she was against it, until finally, pressed for a direct answer, she accused the moderator, Tim Russert, of playing "gotcha."
Her verbal twists and turns provided her opponents with fodder for their central critique of Mrs. Clinton, which coursed throughout Tuesday's debate: that she was trying to have it both ways on the issue, much as she was trying to portray herself as antiwar while voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21571943/
Seems to me many others felt she couldn't handle the "heat" then blamed Tim Russert.
It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled.
Asked whether she still agrees with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's plan to give drivers licenses to illegal immigrants, Clinton launched into a long, complicated defense of it.
But when Chris Dodd attacked the idea a moment later, Clinton quickly said: "I did not say that it should be done."
NBC's Tim Russert, one of the debate moderators, jumped in and said to her: "You told (a) New Hampshire paper that it made a lot of sense. Do you support his plan?"
"You know, Tim," Clinton replied, "this is where everybody plays 'gotcha.' "
John Edwards immediately went for the jugular. "Unless I missed something," he said, "Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes. America is looking for a president who will say the same thing, who will be consistent, who will be straight with them."
Barack Obama added: "I was confused (by) Senator Clinton's answer. I can't tell whether she was for it or against it. One of the things that we have to do in this country is to be honest about the challenges that we face."
"CLINTON INNER-CIRCLE BLAME 'UNFAIR' MODERATOR TIM RUSSERT. 'HE BORDERED ON THE UNPROFESSIONAL,' TOP HILLARY ADVISER CHARGES. 'HE BROKE DEBATE RULES AND WAS BELLIGERENT'...
Limbaugh yesterday described Obama and Edwards as having delivered "blistering attacks" on Hillary at the debate.
