Teamsters Back Obama As Clinton Donors Rally
With the Democratic race now coming down to March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas, outside groups are getting involved in hopes of having a say, reports CBS News senior political consultant Marc Ambinder. The most notable of those is the Teamsters union, which is set to endorse Barack Obama today.
The third largest union in the United States – the first, the Service Employees International Union, has endorsed Obama, while the National Education Association has remained neutral – the Teamsters were waiting until after Wisconsin's primary to make their choice, Ambinder says in a blog post.
The union has 1.4 million members and its backing could be particularly useful in Ohio, a blue-collar battleground, and Pennsylvania on April 22, if the race is still competitive. The endorsement would be Obama's second of the day from a labor union, after the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers.
But Clinton will get help in Ohio – as well as Texas and Pennsylvania – from an as-yet-unnamed 527 political group (named after the section of the tax code regulating such organizations). The group, Ambinder reports, is asking Clinton donors for pledges of up to $100,000, with a goal of raising $10 million by the end of next week. The law forbids 527 groups from coordinating with campaigns, but the effort appears to be an open secret among the former first lady's donors.
Update: The Teamsters have now made their endorsement of Obama official. “Senator Obama understands the challenges working people face every day,” union President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. “He is the candidate in the best position to lead our movement to restore the American dream for working people in this country. Senator Obama will fight for better wages, real health care reform, stronger retirement security, fair trade and an end to the outsourcing of good jobs. He understands the importance of giving workers a voice at work and will fight for strong unions to help rebuild America’s middle class.”
The endorsement decision follows a meeting in Austin, Texas, between Hoffa and Obama, the statement said.
The third largest union in the United States – the first, the Service Employees International Union, has endorsed Obama, while the National Education Association has remained neutral – the Teamsters were waiting until after Wisconsin's primary to make their choice, Ambinder says in a blog post.
The union has 1.4 million members and its backing could be particularly useful in Ohio, a blue-collar battleground, and Pennsylvania on April 22, if the race is still competitive. The endorsement would be Obama's second of the day from a labor union, after the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers.
But Clinton will get help in Ohio – as well as Texas and Pennsylvania – from an as-yet-unnamed 527 political group (named after the section of the tax code regulating such organizations). The group, Ambinder reports, is asking Clinton donors for pledges of up to $100,000, with a goal of raising $10 million by the end of next week. The law forbids 527 groups from coordinating with campaigns, but the effort appears to be an open secret among the former first lady's donors.
Update: The Teamsters have now made their endorsement of Obama official. “Senator Obama understands the challenges working people face every day,” union President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. “He is the candidate in the best position to lead our movement to restore the American dream for working people in this country. Senator Obama will fight for better wages, real health care reform, stronger retirement security, fair trade and an end to the outsourcing of good jobs. He understands the importance of giving workers a voice at work and will fight for strong unions to help rebuild America’s middle class.”
The endorsement decision follows a meeting in Austin, Texas, between Hoffa and Obama, the statement said.
527 can be 827 or 927 and can donate billions and billions I ask for what?
Rhode Island?
they do not have GRASSROOTS
THIS ELECTION WAS ABOUT GRASSROOTS.
THE VOTE IS ALREADY CRYSTALLISED.
I WONDERED YESTERDAY THAT MOST PEOPLE IN WISCONSIN HAD ALREADY OBAMA IN THEIR MINDS SINCE MONTHS AGO.
WE ARE NOW ONE STEP BEYOND: OBJECTIVE NOVEMBER 08.
DID YOU WATCH TV YESTERDAY?????
SOMETHING HAPPENED IN AMERICA
... AND TODAY I DID NOT SEE ANY "PLAGIARISM" EDITORIALS
CURIOUS!!!!!!!. THAT WAS THE LAST CARD MRS.CLINTON PLAYED BUT SHE PLAYED THAT LIKE A ROOKIE.
SHE MISSED FREE THROWS IN THE FOURTH QUARTER WITH 0.2 SEC TO GO.
IT IS SADE TO SAY BUT IT IS FINISH
ASK ED.SCHUSTER HE WILL TELL YOU.
BRILLIANT ANALYSIS!!
Another reason to boycott all UNIONS, corruption, greed, over priced, crooked, thugs, etc.
Posted by RingADing3 at 05:32 PM : Feb 20, 2008
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Wrong a Dong !You Must Be a Bush-bot or Shrubbie!
Go back to your trailer court,.Listen to Rush,Take some pills or what-ever else You Brain-dead Amoebas do !
Friends NEVER let friends vote republiCon!
Did Teamster Members Actually Get a Say in this ENDORSEMENT or Does Communism Rule ?
IT IS SADE TO SAY BUT IT IS FINISH
ASK ED.SCHUSTER HE WILL TELL YOU.
Posted by mozzaikh at 02:48 PM : Feb 20, 2008
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I Know She`s NOT a RepubliCon!..She`s Too Pretty,Much Too Talented and Way Too Smart to Vote for repubiCons!
LET THEM GO BACK TO ARKANSAS AND RETIRE???? BUT, NO THEY WANT DO THAT. THEY HAVE TO SEE WHAT ELSE THEY CAN MESS UP.
THEY ARE ALREADY GETTING ABOUT 10,000.00 A MONTH RENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE SECRET SERVICE HOUSING....AND THAT PAYS THE PAYMENT ON THEIR BIG NEW HOME.
Scott 4 Obama
Sooo the open secret is this "secret 527 group is breaking the law and coordinating with Clinton donors to help Clinton? Okaaaay. Should Congress launch and investigation now, or after Bush and the shredding email and ignore subpoena years--does anything go now? LOL
Posted by kahakaiman at 07:39 PM : Feb 20, 2008
If Hilary gets the nod--We, Independents will put McCain in--that is almost a 100% guarantee--we came for Obama, if not him--we see no need for a Democratic Republican liberal in Hilary--when there is a real one already in McCain. KNOW THIS.
Are You REALLY as Stupid as You Sound ??
Or just infected with singlecellshrubitis ?
The more I think about your comments,the more I see ,You are Extremely Uneducated,Pathetic,and a Sorry excuse of a living creature. You are proof amoebas excrete feces.
HILLARY VS. OBAMA LEGISLATIVE
RECORDS:
During Obama''''''''s first 8 years of elected service Illinois he sponsored over 820 bills - 233 regarding healthcare reform, 125 on poverty and public assistance, 112 crime fighting bills, 97 economic bills, 60 human rights and anti-discrimination bills, 21 ethics reform bills, 15 gun control, 6 veterans affairs and many others. IN ADDITION, DURING HIS FIRST YEAR IN THE U.S. SENATE, HE AUTHORED 152 BILLS AND CO-SPONSORED ANOTHER 427. THESE INCLUDED:
*The Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006
*The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act
*The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act
*The 2007 Government Ethics Bill
*The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill
In all, since he entered the US Senate, Obama has written 890 bills and co-sponsored another 1,096. FOR SOMEONE WHO SUPPOSEDLY "HAS NO RECORD"
HILLARY, WHO HAS SERVED FOR 6 YEARS IN THE U.S. SENATE,CLAIMS TO KNOW HOW TO GET THINGS DONE HAS MANAGED TO AUTHOR AND PASS INTO LAW ONLY 20 PIECES OF LEGISLATION, ONLY FIVE 5 OF WHICH HAVE ANY REAL SUBSTANCE:
1. Extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11.
2. Pay for city projects in response to 9/11
3. Assist landmine victims in other countries.
4. Assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care.
5. Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the wilderness preservation system.
Posted by pilgrimsway at 10:09 PM''
I''m kinda hoping that if Obama becomes president he will pull out an Al-Qaeda flag and then push a red button that sends a missile right into your house so we don''t have to put up with your nonsense posts any more.
1. If the Democratic party is committed to the democratic process its party label implies, how can superdelegates have any influence on the outcome of the primaries?
2. If superdelegates are NOT chosen at random, how can the body of superdelegates be distributed fairly and equitably between Obama and Clinton to reflect the outcome of the primaries?
3. And even if distributed between Obama and Clinton by outcome of the primary, superdelegates are not bound to vote for either. If democratic selection of the party nominee is the objective, why have superdelegates, at all?
4. If the body of superdelegates was chosen long before the Obama-Clinton race began in earnest, and well before primary voters made clear their preference, how could the superdelegates be anything but an obstruction to democracy in the party?
The superdelegates now become party machine politics at its worst, reminding many of the way the Democratic Party handled the 1968 Chicago convention. That convention nominated Hubert Humphrey, LBJ''s VP, who had won very few of the party primaries.
Humphrey lost the election to Richard Nixon, another GOP soldier with a long party record.
Their support of NFTA which took away jobs from union Americans and her position on it to only suspend Nafta. To say anything to get elected is wrong. Nothing will happen with NAFTA when she''s elected. They are profiting since the treaty was passed, profiting off of union American blue collar workers.
Wake up people, the Clintons are for themselves.
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by geetoo-2009
February 21, 2008 1:52 PM PST
- Who''s asleep at the wheel? FDR was chosen in a back room deal.
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Reply to this comment
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See all 28 CommentsJFK was chosen in a negotiated deal. The delegates have a job and part of that job is to see that a feeding frenzy does not prevail. Let''s hope they do their job and don''t get caught up in the Obama frenzy. Remember that O sat in the ILL senate and votes "present" prox 140 times. He even voted present on his own bills. Pushing paper does not make a president. Watch him when he does not have an audience to preach to; he founders. He feeds of crowd energy. How will he feed off Putin''s energy in a one on one?
No memorized rhetoric there; he has to extemporize. The man cannot do it. His wife has shown a number of times her fanatic Afrocentrism in public slips. This couple are scary. I am a Dem who votes McCain of O gets the nod.