Clinton gains endorsement of AFSCME

Union Gives Endorsement to Clinton By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton received the endorsement yesterday of one of the nation’s largest and most politically active labor unions, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which has 1.4 million members. The union’s executive board voted to endorse Mrs. Clinton, capping a 10-month process in which the union’s leaders interviewed candidates, sponsored candidate forums and polled members nationally and in several key states. “We looked for the candidate who will fight for working families and who has the greatest ability to win,” said Gerald W. McEntee, the union’s president. His union has 30,000 members in Iowa, making it a major force in the Democratic caucuses there in January. Mr. McEntee, who is chairman of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s political committee, said his union planned to spend $60 million on get-out-the-vote efforts and issue education next year, second only to the spending planned by the Service Employees International Union. Mr. McEntee said his union would also mobilize 40,000 members to do campaign work. Labor officials said 23 members of the union’s board had voted to endorse Mrs. Clinton, of New York, while 10 had voted for other candidates or for no endorsement. Several board members argued against endorsing Mrs. Clinton, saying she would have trouble beating a Republican next year because her negatives are so high. The campaigns of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina sought to play down the endorsement. David E. Bonior, Mr. Edwards’s campaign manager, said, “Given that 30 percent of their national membership lives in New York, and the long history that President Clinton has with President McEntee, this comes as no surprise.”(translation: Ah crap) Mr. McEntee and his union were somewhat embarrassed in 2004 after they endorsed Howard Dean early on, only to see him fade quickly. Mr. Edwards received the endorsement yesterday of the service employees’ state council in New Hampshire even though former President Bill Clinton had personally intervened on his wife’s behalf. The service employees’ union has 10,000 members in New Hampshire, which should help Mr. Edwards in that state’s primary.