Edwards' SEIU Endorsement Questioned

[underpants]

I post this because I went looking for our local rags "From Wire Reports" article that I read this morning. In it the only mention of the SEIU was that Hillary got the endorsement. Edwards wasn't mentioned at all nor was Obama's appearance last night in Charlottesville (that is online)

Anyway here you go- one step forward one (seemingly) step backwards. My god they fear this man.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EDWARDS_ENDORSEMENT?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-11-01-05-19-00

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Wednesday accepted the endorsement of the New Hampshire Service Employees International Union amid questions about the validity of the vote.

According to those involved, the union's board voted Oct. 23 to endorse Sen. Barack Obama. Union president Gary Smith promptly called Obama with the news.

A person familiar with the conversation said it was clear to Obama that the endorsement was a done deal. The person did not want to be named because the conversation was meant to be private.

But the situation changed Tuesday night.

The board, including some new members elected during the weekend, deadlocked 8-to-8 on a motion to endorse Edwards. Smith broke the tie in Edwards' favor.


Edwards sidestepped the issue at a news conference.

"I think I'm the one they endorsed," he said, chuckling. "It's a very long and very democratic process. ... But at the end of the day, they decided they supported me."

[merbex]

1. Here is more information which seems to lay the blame for this on Huckabee

The PE committee held one-on-one interviews with the candidates, reviewed their health care plans and accounts of their SEIU walk-a-days.

On October 14, the PE committee met with Obama for an hour. He returned right before their vote to make a final pitch. Bill Clinton and John Edwards called in.

Edwards won the recommendation by a vote of 10 to 5 for Obama to 1 for Clinton. The process having run its course, the committee made the recommendation unanimous. They'd recommend Edwards to full state SEIU board.

The state board met on October 23. They reject the PE's recommendation of Edwards. Many of the Republicans on the committee were upset that Mike Huckabee had never been given the opportunity to solicit the endorsement. The reasoning behind his exclusion was that he had not met the SEIU's basic criteria: he had not yet proposed a universal health care plan and had not walked a day in the shoes of an SEIU member.

In protest, Huckabee supporters banded together and convinced some Obama supporters to join them. Because Edwards's supporters assumed that the PE recommendation would hold, many weren't at the meeting. By 7 to 5, Obama won an informal vote.

This news was communicated to the Obama campaign.

But "When word got out," a Democratic official says, "the place blew up."

How dare board ignore the recommendation of the PE committee?

Aware of the criticism, the full board met on Friday, October 26 and agreed to re-open the process.

On Saturday, October, 27, The NH SEA held a straw poll at a state convention in Concord. Without hearing the report of the political committee and without hearing that the endorsement had been unanimous, Edwards won.

The PE committee reconvened on Monday and re-recommended Edwards. Obama’s campaign began to re-lobby board members, as did Elizabeth Edwards.

On Tuesday, by a vote of 9 to 8, the state board voted to uphold the PE committee's recommendation, and Edwards had his endorsement.

The vote was not held in secret; critics of the process were allowed in and given the opportunity to speak

link http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/10/the_new_hampshire_seiu_confusi.php