The New York Times
Wedesday 20 February 2008
In a surprising boost for Senator Barack Obama, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will announce this afternoon that it is endorsing him, a top union leader said.
With the Teamsters' move, labor leaders said, Change to Win, a five-million-member coalition of unions that broke away from the A.F.L.-C.I.O., will likely vote on Thursday to endorse Mr. Obama.
The seven unions in that coalition - the service employees, the food and commercial workers, the Teamsters, the carpenters, the laborers the United Farm Workers and Unite Here (which represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers) - are scheduled to hold a conference call on Thursday morning to decide on an endorsement.
With the service employees, the food and commercial workers and Unite Here having already endorsed Mr. Obama, the Teamsters endorsement will give him the two-thirds needed for the Change to Win Coalition to officially back him.
That will give Mr. Obama increased momentum and help him in a group where he has been struggling - with blue-collar workers, especially white, male blue-collar workers. The Teamsters represents more than one million truck drivers, warehouse workers, police officers and other workers, and its membership is extremely strong in two upcoming battlegrounds - Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Bret Caldwell, the Teamsters communications director, confirmed that the union's general executive board will make the endorsement at a meeting at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday.
He said the union's president, James P. Hoffa, would be meeting on Thursday night in Austin with Mr. Obama and that the two men would campaign together in Cleveland on Friday.
Mr. Caldwell said the endorsement decision was based on "a scientific polling of our members and a survey of local union leaders." "They're there," he said, saying there was strong rank-and-file support for Mr. Obama.
"We've been fortunate this primary season that we have had a lot of friends running for president," Mr. Caldwell said. "This is based on our members and leaders. It's a demonstration of support for Senator Obama. It's not a decision against any other candidate."
Senator John Edwards had assiduously courted the Teamsters, and late last year the union's president, James P. Hoffa, was said to be leaning toward Mr. Edwards, but he held back on an endorsement because Mr. Edwards's poll ratings were low.
With Mr. Edwards out of the race, Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, and Joseph Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, have pressed Mr. Hoffa and the Teamsters to back Mr. Obama.
Teamster officials said the union began canvassing its leaders and its rank-and-file late last week to gauge how much support there was for Mr. Obama, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Republican presidential candidates
Last June, Mr. Hoffa and Bruce Raynor, the president of Unite Here, wrote an angry letter to Mrs. Clinton complaining that Mark Penn, her pollster and chief strategist, was chief executive of a public relations firm that was helping Cintas, the nation's largest uniform company, fight a unionization drive by the Teamsters and Unite Here.
The A.F.L.-C.I.O. has been too divided to make an endorsement. Two of its largest unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers, have endorsed Mrs. Clinton.
Obama's "Liftoff" Set for Big Union Boost
The Age AU
Thursday 21 February 2008
Senator Barack Obama is poised to get the endorsement of the powerful Teamsters, the second major union endorsement for the Democratic frontrunner in the US election race in a week.
Labour unions are a major asset for Democrats, both for the money they can raise and their organising capabilities for persuading voters. The Teamsters gave more than $US2.2 million ($A2.39 million) to Democrats in federal races in 2004. They have given more than $US24 million ($A26.12 million) to Democratic election causes since 1989, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.
Obama will meet Teamster President James P Hoffa in Texas today. The endorsement is expected to come soon thereafter, said union officials.
The Teamsters represent 1.4 million members.
Union support will be key in the Democratic primaries in the next few weeks, particularly in the states of Ohio on March 4 and Pennsylvania on April 22.
Ohio and Pennsylvania have some of the largest number of US union workers, with more than 15 per cent of the workforce unionised in Pennsylvania and just over 14 per cent in Ohio.
The endorsement from the Teamsters is Obama's fourth from organised labour in a week. The 65,000 member International Brotherhood of Boilermakers endorsed Obama today, the 1.9 million member Service Employees International Union backed the Illinois senator last Friday, and the smaller United Food and Commercial Workers endorsed him last Thursday.
Rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has a larger number of unions in her corner by far, with 12 endorsements from unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO - the largest US labour federation - and the United Farm Workers from the rival Change To Win labour federation.
But Obama also has two AFL-CIO unions in his corner in the Transport Workers Union and the National Weather Service Employees Organisation.
And with a Teamsters endorsement, he will have four Change To Win unions in his camp: the Teamsters, SEIU, the United Food and Commercial Workers and UNITE HERE, who gave Obama his first national endorsement from a union.
Earlier, Obama pummelled Clinton in Wisconsin and Hawaii, making it 10 wins in a row against his bitter rival in the Democratic White House race.
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain meanwhile fired a pre-emptive strike on his increasingly likely Democratic general election foe, ripping Obama's "eloquent but empty" rhetoric, after his own easy win in Wisconsin.
Obama's victories cemented his front-runner status, and left Clinton needing an astonishing turnaround in must-win contests in her firewall states of Ohio and Texas on March 4 to keep her fading presidential hopes alive.
"I think we've achieved liftoff here," said Obama, as he addressed a delirious rally in Houston, Texas, which hosts NASA's mission control for US space missions, as he set a rhetorical course the November 4 presidential vote.
"The change we seek is still months and miles away," he said.
Though Obama and Clinton had been tightly matched going into the Wisconsin primary, which had 74 delegates on offer, he swept to a comprehensive win.
With 97 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama led 58 per cent to 41 per cent.
Later Tuesday, Obama, who is vying to make history as America's first black president, secured another comprehensive victory as his birth state of Hawaii held its caucuses, US media reported.
Clinton, stung by another grievous blow to her hopes of becoming America's history-making first woman president, pleaded with voters to pause to consider who was truly qualified to lead the country.
"Both Senator Obama and I would make history. But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans.
"That is the choice in this election."
Arizona Senator McCain, 71, edged even closer to mathematical certainty of grasping the Republican nomination, handily beating his pesky Republican rival Mike Huckabee in Wisconsin.
McCain also swept Washington state's primary, after winning the first part of its two-step nominating process, a caucus, ten days earlier.
The Vietnam war hero struck an immediate contrast with Obama, 46, trying to leverage the campaign onto national security territory where McCain draws strong support.
"Thank you Wisconsin, for bringing us to the point where even a superstitious navy aviator can claim with confidence and humility that I will be our party's nominee for president of the United States," McCain said in a victory rally in Columbus, Ohio.
Turning to Obama, he rapped an "eloquent but empty call for change that promises no more than a holiday from history and a return to the false promises and failed policies of a tired philosophy."
"Will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan?" he said, referring to Obama's threat to strike at al-Qaeda without Islamabad's permission if necessary. McCain also hit out at Obama for suggesting talks without preconditions with US foes like Iran and North Korea. But in his own victory speech Obama was unrepentant, saying America should not be afraid to talk to its enemies. The two head-to-head showdowns set the stage for the crucial contests in Ohio and Texas on March 4, which one-time front-runner Clinton is billing as a firewall.
Obama's win in Wisconsin provided further evidence that key voting groups are lining up behind the Illinois senator's campaign.
Wisconsin, with its legions of blue collar white voters, should have been Clinton territory, but exit polls showed Obama repeating his feat in the Virginia and Maryland primaries last week of cutting into her power base.
He shared Clinton's core constituency of women, and union households.
The former first lady won only one age group, voters aged 60 and older.
Households who earn less than 50,000 dollars also narrowly went for Obama, and he also won the category of households earning more than that figure.
Obama now leads Clinton by 1342 to 1265 delegates, according to independent political website RealClearPolitics.com.
Neither candidate is likely to reach the winning line of 2,025 delegates, which has led to speculation of a convention brawl when the Democrats select their White House nominee in August.
McCain has amassed a total of 877 delegates, of the 1,191 needed for the Republican nomination.
His former rival Mitt Romney endorsed McCain on February 15 and urged his 271 delegates to do the same.
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