Edwards gets New Hampshire SEIU Endorsement

This is big news. Per the SEIU's rules, this means that 90,000 SEIU members from neighboring Massachusetts, who already endorsed Edwards, can join the 10,000 SEIU members in New Hampshire to campaign for him. And perhaps more importantly, it means that SEIU members from other neighboring states are barred from campaigning in NH for a different candidate.

Edwards has now wrapped up the coveted SEIU endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire, but also California, Washington, Idaho, Massachusetts, Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio and Oregon.

Of course the reason why we're counting state endorsements instead of one National endorsement is because the SEIU members in Illinois and New York were afraid of alienating their would-be patrons Obama and Clinton. Illinois SEIU and neighboring Indiana endorsed Obama, as expected, but the big state to watch now is New York. NY's 300,000 members of SEIU 1199 were enough to stop a national endorsement, but will they actually end up endorsing Clinton, or will they endorse no one? Anything but a Clinton endorsement (including no endorsement) has to be seen a huge strike against Clinton.

It's no wonder Edwards is the natural choice for Labor. Edwards is the only candidate who has consistently fought for America's working families. He's been outspoken on NAFTA and more recently he's publicly come out against the CAFTA test balloon of the Peru trade deal.

For those inclined and able to do so, you should contribute to Edwards today to make the latest matching fund deadline.

While Clinton triangulates, and Obama talks abstractly about hope, Edwards continues to be the moral voice of this Primary, making clear that this election is about more than rhetoric.

Could Ron Paul Surprise the World in Iowa?

As the only Republican candidate who opposes the war and advocates for withdrawal, Ron Paul the only candidate in synch with 54% or Republican Iowa Caucus-goers. There was an interesting moment in the Republican debate last night when Ron Paul quoted a poll that had "70 Some Percent" of the American People favoring withdrawal, to which the Republican Debate audience Booed. BOOED! That's the kind of Patriotic Americans we're dealing with here, the kind that will boo the facts in the hope of making it not so.

2 + 2 = 4 (BOOOOOOOOO)



These are the same good people who cheered relentlessly as Mitt Romney bravely pledged that as President, he would detain and torture TWICE as many people without any oversight, proof, or habeus corpus.



Not to dis my fellow Americans, but are these people for real?

As we inch ever closer to that fateful midwestern caucus, things seem to get more and more interesting.

On the Democratic side, polling in Iowa has Hillary, Edwards and Obama in pretty much a 3-way tie, though it's important to note that Hillary and Obama are spending millions on TV ads and Edwards has yet to run a single TV spot. Plus, all those Illinois SEIU members who endorsed Obama are barred by Union Rules from campaigning in a state that has endorsed another candidate. Iowa SEIU endorsed Edwards, so would-be Obama campaigners in neighboring Illinois are S.O.L. in Iowa.


Oh, and one more note on the Republican debate last night, every candidate was campaigning against Hillary. Is this because they fear her as the Dem nominee, or because they're taking a cue from Rove's playbook, which is to publicly fret over the difficulty of beating the candidate they know privately will be easiest to defeat? I'm wagering it's not because they fear Hillary.

Good Rundown on a Good Week for Edwards

Chuckles1 at DKos has a nice diary on Rec list right now outlining the week in Endorsements for Edwards.

It includes a video of former Georgia Congressman Ben Jones (known to many as Cooter form the Dukes of Hazzard). Word on the street is that Boss Hogg is getting ready to endorse Rude-y Giuliani, which is causing rifts with Roscoe P. Coltrane, because he's leaning towards Grandpa Fred Thompson.

But seriously folks, Edwards had a good week. Seems like the only reason he didn't get the National SEIU endoresement is that the locals in Illinois and New York were playing politics and were too chickenshit to cross their respective Senators. In some ways, it seems like it's playing out nicely for Edwards, though, because everytime a local union endorses him, it's a headline. I'll bethca he's got more SEIU endorsements to come.

***UPDATE***

Per The Arm's query in the comments, here's Edwards on Trade Policies, including NAFTA:

The trade policies of President Bush have devastated towns and communities all across America. But let's be clear about something - this isn't just his doing. For far too long, presidents from both parties have entered into trade agreements, agreements like NAFTA, promising that they would create millions of new jobs and enrich communities. Instead, too many of these agreements have cost us jobs and devastated many of our towns.

NAFTA was written by insiders in all three countries, and it served their interests - not the interests of regular workers. It included unprecedented rights for corporate investors, but no labor or environmental protections in its core text. And over the past 15 years, we have seen growing income inequality in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Well enough is enough. Americans have paid the price long enough. We need to change our fundamental approach to trade. We need to make American values the foundation of our trade deals, and we need to put workers back at their core.

You can read more here.