Feb 1, 2008 10:13 am US/Pacific
Obama Snags Calif. SEIU, MoveOn.Org Endorsements
SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
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Sen. Barack Obama
Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday picked up two more endorsements, one from a prominent anti-war group and the other from the California branch of an influential labor union.
A spokeswoman for the California branch of the SEIU told The Associated Press Friday that the union is backing Barack Obama for president.
The SEIU had been backing John Edwards, who dropped out of the race on Wednesday.
The Service Employees International Union has about 650,000 members in California. Many are city, county and state workers. Others are in-home support and health care workers.
SEIU's backing could help Obama cut into Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead among Democratic base voters, many of whom are union members.
With only a few days to go before Tuesday's election, the union does not have much time to muster support for Obama. Union officials said they plan a limited operation on his behalf by urging their members to vote for him.
Luis Vizcaino, a spokesman for Clinton's California campaign, said she had the support of other unions, such as the United Farm Workers and the California branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
"We're feeling very good about where we are with our labor support," he said.
Meanwhile, Obama also picked up the endorsement of MoveOn.org, a liberal network which counts 3.2 million members.
Obama told reporters in a news conference that, even though Clinton explains how she would like to end the war, her explanation for her vote leading into the war is disingenuous. He said his opposition against the war from the start will make him the stronger rival to Republican front-runner and war backer John McCain in the general election.
Obama's long-standing opposition to the war helped him pick up
the backing of MoveOn.org, which voted decided to back him by a vote of 70 percent to 30 percent for Clinton.
The group said Friday that it has 1.7 million members in the 22 states scheduled to vote in the race Tuesday, and it would immediately begin a campaign to get them behind Obama.
MoveOn.org executive director Eli Pariser said the country needs a president to end the war, provide universal health care, address climate change, restore America's standing in the world and "change business as usual in Washington."
In his statement, Pariser thanked all the other candidates who ran in the Democratic primary for their contributions to the race, but left Clinton off the list.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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